The Truth About Stretching
A three year old study about stretching is being cited in many articles today, and the conclusions reached by some writers may be harmful to the muscle, ligaments and joints of your athletes.
Is stretching before practice harmful?
Stretching before athletic training and general fitness improvement exercise is being made out to be a time-waster, not needed, and even harmful. This is not true. In fact, there’s a recent study that evaluates all the research on stretching, and the study concludes:
Due to the paucity (small number), heterogeneity (dissimilar study subjects) and poor quality of the available studies no definitive conclusions can be drawn as to the value of stretching for reducing the risk of exercise-related injury (The efficacy
...designed to build confidence. As a Marine in boot camp, you will be subjected to 13 weeks of some of the hardest work and training you have ever had in your life. Marines are known for their toughness and this ...
Essentially, the researchers are saying that there are not enough quality studies to draw conclusions about this issue.
Study in question
The study that is generating all the hoopla was performed by the Kapooka Health Centre, New South Wales, Australia on 1,538 army recruits. It’s a creditable study designed to show the occurrence lower limb injury on a group of young army recruits. Despite what you may have heard about stretching before training, this is what the researchers actually reported:
A typical muscle stretching protocol performed during pre-exercise warm-ups does not produce clinically meaningful reductions in risk of exercise-related injury in army recruits. Fitness may
...down the street, or they too will fail. THE WRONG EXERCISES Exercises can be divided roughly into three groups. In my high school days (don't ask how long ago) we would talk about strength, endurance, and flexibility. These days you ...
The statement, “Fitness may be an important, modifiable risk factor” is very important. It simply means that age, weight, and conditioning of the study subjects may be an important factor in preventing or facilitating the injuries experienced in this study.
Three years after the Kapooka study, another study involving military recruits was conducted and the researchers in this study show that pre-training static stretching can PREVENT injury involving muscle but not joint or bone injury. The researchers report, Static stretching decreased the incidence of muscle-related injuries but did not prevent bone or joint injuries, (Effect of static stretching on
...foster a safe and healthy atmosphere for troubled youngsters. Some schools refrain from taking on serious violators of the law. As with any good establishment, military schools prefer students who have a keen interest in their way of life, especially ...
Appropriate conclusions
Based on the way some have written about this study, it’s okay to run a 100 meter sprint full speed without stretching beforehand. Now, this may be possible for a small number of lean, young army recruits. However, does anyone believe that a powerful, muscled-up athlete or a middle-aged and older adult can go out and run a sprint - cold with no warm-up without increased risk of injury? Don’t think so…
Use Common Sense
…and the full body of research
Think about it; if an out-of-shape, untrained young army recruit performs high-intensity exercise, he may get injured, pre-stretched or not. And this is why researchers evaluating all the
...the level of competence of the models seen in the pictures, but many of them started at the same level of fitness that you are at now. Yoga and tai-chi routines can be as long or as short as you ...
In short, there needs to be a body of research based on age, weight, conditioning, and the study needs to be performed functionally for the specific sport and type of exercise before life-changing conclusions are drawn.
The truth about stretching
New research shows that stretching can aid in the prevention of injury of stress factures that plague distance runners. Researchers conclude,
Prevention of stress fractures is most effectively accomplished by increasing the level of exercise slowly, adequately warming up and stretching before exercise, and using cushioned insoles and appropriate footwear (Common stress fractures, 2003, Sanderlin).
Stretching offers many benefits. Researchers show that prolonged stretching (in the form of yoga)
...cutting calories beyond certain levels is often contra-productive and may actually contribute to ill health and/or later weight gain. Increasing activity is probably going to be important for healthy weight loss, but, just like exchanging our old bad eating habits ...
After one year in a yoga program, participants lost weight, reduced cholesterol, and improved their exercise capacity, (Retardation of coronary atherosclerosis with yoga lifestyle intervention, 2000, Manchanda).
Stretching offers many benefits, but there is an issue about the type of stretching and the timing of stretching before athletic competitions.
Use dynamic stretching before games and key practice sessions
There are two main types of stretching, static (holding a stretching exercise in one position without movement) and dynamic stretching, which means moving while stretching (arm swings, knee rotations, neck circles).
Researchers show that athletes
...Red Phase, they have to undergo the Reception Battalion. The Reception Battalion is an exercise in patience where recruits are made to practice waiting for commands to be given. They are given haircuts and personal possessions are taken away. Initial ...
Static stretching builds flexibility and should be performed regularly, just not immediately before a big game or a key practice session.
Warming up prior to a high-intensity, ballistic, athletic event is an absolute rule - never to be broken, and stretching can be combined (multi-tasked) as part of the warm-up. The goal of the warm-up is to get the blood flowing and raise body temperature (one degree) prior to athletic competitions and high-intensity training. It
...control by my own exercise activities. Exercise also strengthens the immune system, which helps us avoid or fight off the normal bacterial and viral infections which seem to come our way and which often seem to wreak havoc on the ...
Do static stretching with 30-second stretch-holds
away from practice
Gains in flexibility are dependent on the duration of stretch-hold position, and researchers show the best stretch-hold position (for time-spent) to increase flexibility is 30 seconds (The effect of time on static stretch on the flexibility of the hamstring muscles, 1994, Bandy). “Best” means optimal results for time-spent. You can get positive results with 2 minute stretch-holds, but 30 seconds yields equal results.
This type of stretching is positive for athletes and adults of all ages. Researchers show in one study that longer
...way in which we live and act CAN influence our daily path towards success. The effects of good health can be simple, direct, and easily understood, or they may be a bit less obvious and their contributions less visible. For ...
Longer hold times during stretching of the hamstring muscles resulted in a greater rate of gains in range of motion (ROM) and a more sustained increase in ROM in elderly subjects (The effect of duration of stretching of the hamstring muscle group for increasing range of motion in people aged 65 years or older, 2001, Feland).
Adults ages 21 to 45 with tight hamstrings also get the best results from static stretching with 30-second stretch-hold positions. Researchers report that static stretching is two times more effective than dynamic range of motion (DROM) for this group of non-competitive athletes. Researchers report,
The results of this study suggest that, although
...their physical capabilities. Forming follows this, when the recruits meet their instructors. Basic marching and discipline is taught at this stage. After this come the Drills, where marines are made to work together in moving from place to place. This ...
Keep in mind there are important lessons in these studies, but the studies apply to a specific age group (over 65, and ages 21 45,) and a specific physical condition (tight hamstrings). If we apply the results of a study with these variables to young athletes, we may be wrong.
While it s reasonable to conclude (as I have for training purposes) that static stretching away from practice is an effective strategic
...live and serve in boot camps, while they are given training on how to live better in society. They are also taught some professional skills. Parents with problem children often send them to juvenile boot camps. Today boot camps have ...
The take home about stretching
1. Use dynamic stretching and static stretching at the correct times in the training plan.
2. Dynamic stretching (arm swings, hip rotations, knee rotations) will aid in the pre-competition, pre-practice warm-up process by increasing flexion in the joints and increasing body temperature. This method is preferred before athletic competition.
3. Static stretching can be used as part of a warm-up for training. However, static stretching will slightly slow down
...Now, let's talk about stress and weight loss. If you are trying too hard, whether physically or mentally, you are stressed. In fact, as soon as you decide to "go on a diet" or "start trying to lose weight", you ...
The best way to improve overall flexibility is static stretching with 30-second stretch-holds performed away from events requiring peak performance. Personally, I recommend to athletes attending my Speed Camp to use a 10-minute static stretching routine targeting hamstrings, Achilles, hip flexors and quads four days a week.
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Phil Campbell. M.S., M.A., FACHE is the author of
Ready, Set, Go! Synergy Fitness
www.readysetgofitness.com
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National Institutes of Health research cited: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12909434&dopt=Abstract http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14596439 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10694106&dopt=Abstract http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11273502&dopt=Abstract http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10956367&dopt=Abstract http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8066111&dopt=Abstract http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12834132 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11319936 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9549713