An article written by Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post, has several strong points when it comes to stretching. Decades of research and physiological fact support many of the points in the article:
• There’s no evidence that stretching prevents injury. In fact, it is more likely to cause one.
• Stretching won’t stave off muscle soreness.
• Stretching won’t increase, but actually decreases, performance levels.
• The merits of stretching are “not based on any science. It’s based on word of mouth. It’s spread by coaches, spread by trainers, (by) all kinds of different people who have an interest in pretending to be experts.”
• According to the National Institute on Aging, “we don’t have the kinds of controlled intervention studies that we need to make a definitive statement about the benefits of doing flexibility exercises… We’re not able to tell the elderly exactly the ways it can help them.”
• A CDC study shows “stretching was not significantly associated with a reduction in total injuries.”
• Static stretching produces microscopic muscle tears and does nothing to prevent injury. It also weakens muscle, increases injury, and limits performance according to the CDC study.
• Research indicates that warming up before exercise is more valuable than stretching.
Bernstein’s article and the “Stretching the Truth” article that I wrote over five years ago conlcude that stretching weakens muscle and causes injury, does not increase heart rate or circulation, only masks pain, and actually decreases range of motion over time.
Most top level high school, club, collegiate and professional coaches have eliminated stretching from their athletes routines with excellent results. They understand that the most flexible athletes are the most susceptible to injury. Therefore they have replaced stretching with active warm up and cool down.
