Stretching: A form of physical exercise in which a specific muscle or tendon (or muscle group) is deliberately flexed or stretched in order to improve the muscle’s elasticity. The result is a feeling of increased muscle control, flexibility, and range of motion. Stretching is also used therapeutically to alleviate cramping.
Alternatively;
Stretching: the most divisive, emotive and inconclusive part of the Exercise Universe.
Because of the second definition – by yours truly – I put off writing a blog on stretching for as long as was possible.
But here goes;
In 2015, a paper in Research in Sports Medicine called “Impact of stretching on the performance and injury risk of long-distance runners” came to the conclusion that;
“….the literature suggests that stretching poses no significant advantage to endurance runners. Acute stretching can reduce running economy and performance for up to an hour by diminishing the musculotendinous stiffness and elastic energy potential. Chronic stretching additionally appears to have no advantageous effects.
In regards to DOMS, it has been reported consistently in the literature that stretching cannot reduce its longevity or intensity.
In relation to injury risk, stretching shows little significance for endurance runners to chronic injury.”
Of course this very much focusses on Running, but is pretty damning stuff.
It found no benefit to stretching, and actually some negative effects of stretching.
Everyone stop stretching!
But wait….
A study in 2016 called “Acute bouts of upper and lower body static and dynamic stretching increase non-local joint range of motion“ found – unsurprisingly if you read the title in full – that stretching had a positive effect, and not just locally. It concluded that lower body stretching increased flexibility in the upper body at the same time – and vice-versa.
What is this voodoo!
Also, a January 2018 paper by Blazevich AJ, Gill ND, Kvorning T et al., titled “No Effect of Muscle Stretching within a Full, Dynamic Warm-up on Athletic Performance”, in Medical Science Sports Exercise, found that “Static stretching does not impact short-term athletic performance – and may reduce injury risk” (https://www.fifamedicinediploma.com/static-stretching-does-not-impact-short-term-athletic-performance-and-may-reduce-injury-risk/
I’m always asked about stretching, and people will always ‘confess’ to “not stretching enough”. On my Strength and Conditioning For Runners Workshops, we focus almost entirely on Dynamic Stretching, as running is a dynamic activity.
This does NOT mean I am anti-static stretching, at all, far from it. Stretching has its place in physical therapy – of course it does.
But of course, much the same as everything in the fitness and health world, it is not a panacea.
My advice is always to critically appraise your routine; What are you stretching? Why are you stretching it? Is it relevant to your daily activities, or sport? Is the muscle “tight” because it is short, or tight because it is fatigued and giving the sensation of tightness?
If you stretch something, and stretch it, and stretch it, and the symptoms remain, did it need stretching?
So far we have only really looked at stretching as a performance enhancer. So what if we look at stretching from an injury reduction perspective?
In a comparison study by Lauersen et al, stretching was found to reduce injury risk by 4%. In contrast, strength training reduced injury by 69%. For me, as a therapist and an (albeit completely average) athlete myself, my time is going to be spent on the strength training when my focus is staying robust.
Further research shows that “Strength training and stretching were not different in improving range of motion, regardless of the diversity of protocols and populations” (Strength training is as effective as stretching for improving range of motion: A systematic review and meta-analysis), Afonso et al, 2021.
In short, strength training has the same effect on muscle ‘length’ as stretching alone. So we can get strong and long (👀) in half the time.
We can see from the research that science can’t agree completely on its validity as a performance enhancer.
But there is much stronger and persuasive research when it come to its limitations on injury reduction.
For some of the people, some of the time, and when it comes to all-round quality of life, stretching is essential.
But to reframe a question from above; always know why you are stretching, and what the real benefit is when it comes to injury reduction and/or performance.
For more information, please contact Dan@DC-InjuryClinic.co.uk
N.B. There are no ‘one size fits all’ style quick fixes in most injury scenarios, so these article shouldn’t be seen as such. They are merely guides to a better understanding of how our bodies work