that we need a certain amount of flexibility
for the tasks we’re given – but that too much
or too little may predispose us to injury.
exercise. Once you’ve got adequate range of motion for your activity,
however, investing your time in fitness, strength and proprioception
work seems to be a better strategy for injury prevention.
Better predictors of injury
An Australian military study (Pope et al,
2000) 3 of more than 1,500 recruits who were
undergoing basic training, compared two
groups: those training with a warm up; and
those training with a warm up and six lower
body stretches held for 20 seconds. There
was no difference in injury rates between
the groups after 12 weeks of training.
Fitness measured by a 20-metre shuttle test
was a better predictor of injury, leading the
researchers to suggest that fitness training
rather than flexibility training may be a better
investment of your time if you’re looking to
reduce your injury risk.
A meta-analysis in 2014 by Lauersen
et al 4 also suggested that factors other
than flexibility may be more important
for reducing injury. This study assessed
over 3,500 different injuries in over 26,000
subjects. Stretching was found to have no
effect on these injuries, while proprioceptive
training and strength training halved the risk
of injury.
It appears, therefore, that once you have
sufficient flexibility, not too little and not
too much, fitness training, strength training
and body awareness training may be more
protective against injury than stretching.
Increased injury risk
Some studies have also reported increased
injury rates with stretching. In theory,
sustained stretches of 90 seconds may
compromise muscle function for up to 2
hours afterwards. In practice though, not
many people will hold a stretch for over
90 seconds. In reviews of stretching and
performance, Behm et al (2016) 5 found
around a 50/50 split, with static stretching
showing either a detrimental effect on
performance or no effect at all.
The bottom line here is that long,
sustained stretches prior to activity probably
aren’t useful for performance and may even
be detrimental. If you’re going to use static
stretching, then stretching after exercise or
well before you start exercising is a better
approach. Better still is dynamic flexibility
work prior to exercise. Reviews of dynamic
stretching studies show a 50/50 split with
improved performance or no effect in
performance – a better, and safer, bet for
your time spent prior to training.
To stretch or not to stretch?
While there isn’t much evidence that
stretching reduces the risk of injury, I
wouldn’t tell someone not to stretch after
Research has shown dynamic stretching to be preferable to the static variety
REFERENCES
1. Amako M1, Oda T, Masuoka K, Yokoi H, Campisi P (2003). Effect of static stretching
on prevention of injuries for military recruits. Military Medicine 2003 Jun; 168(6):
442-6.
2. Jones BH and Hauschild VD (2015). Physical training, fitness, and injuries: Lessons
learned from military studies. JSCR 29(11), S57-64
3. Pope RP1, Herbert RD, Kirwan JD, Graham BJ (2000). A randomized trial of
preexercise stretching for prevention of lower-limb injury. Med Sci Sports Exerc.
2000 Feb;32(2):271-7
4. Lauersen JB, Bertelsen DM, Andersen LB (2014). The effectiveness of exercise
interventions to prevent sports injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of
randomised controlled trials. British Journal of Sports Medicine 2014; 48:871-877.
5. Behm DG, Blazevich AJ, Kay AD, and McHugh M (2016). Acute effects of muscle
stretching on physical performance, range of motion, and injury incidence in healthy
active individuals: a systematic review. Appl. Physiol. Nutr. Metab. 2016 41: 1–11
Dave Liow
Dave is the founder of the Holistic Movement Coach
Programme which integrates holistic health with
movement training – because health is much more
than movement. He has a long history in elite high-
performance sport conditioning and also specialises in
working with clients with chronic pain and injuries.
FILEX 2020 POSTPONED
Dave was scheduled to share his conditioning know-how at this year's
FILEX fitness industry convention in May. The event has been postponed due
to government restrictions on large gatherings that have been put in place
to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST INFO ON THE EVENT
NETWORK AUTUMN 2020 | 19