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2004/03/29, 03:54 PM
Mar 28, 12:07 PM (ET)
By IRA DREYFUSS
WASHINGTON (AP) - Stretching does not live up to its reputation as an injury preventer, a study has found. "We could not find a benefit," said Stephen B. Thacker, director of the epidemiology program office at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Athletes who stretch might feel more limber, but they shouldn't count on stretching to keep them healthy, he said.
Thacker and four CDC colleagues combed research databases for studies that had compared stretching with other ways to prevent training injuries. They combined data from five studies so they could look more closely for any benefits that might emerge as a pattern. Their report is in the March issue of the American College of Sports Medicine journal, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.
People who stretched were no more or less likely to suffer injuries such as pulled muscles, which the increased flexibility that results from stretching is supposed to prevent, researchers found. And the injuries found in the study typically happened within the muscle's normal range of motion, so stretching them would not have made a difference, Thacker said.
Other research has found that warmups, which increase blood flow through the muscle and make it more ready to respond to exercise, can reduce the risk of injury, Thacker said. Being in good shape also helps. Strength and balance training reduced injuries as well, he said.
People such as gymnasts and dancers might be exceptions, because their activities require great flexibility, so stretching might improve their performance, Thacker said.
In case future research does find a benefit, Thacker has no problem with athletes continuing to do gentle stretching. That's not the case with stretches that include sudden fast movements, called "ballistic stretches," which have been found in other studies to raise injury risks.
The study's findings make sense, said Mike Bracko, director of the Institute for Hockey Research in Calgary, Alberta. "We have done some work with hockey players showing flexibility is not an important variable," he said.
A strain typically happens when a muscle has to react suddenly to control an athlete's movement, Bracko said. An example would be a tear in a muscle in the back of a sprinter's leg as it contracts to keep the muscles in the front of the leg from moving the knee too far forward, he said.
Two other researchers said, however, that there may still be value in the stretches that coaches require, and athletes do.
Lynn Millar, a professor of physical therapy at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich., said her experience in treating people with injuries tells her that those who don't stretch may find they can't move their arms and legs as far as they used to, and this could set them up for injury.
"Unfortunately, a lot of us don't have a normal range of motion," Millar said.
Stephen Rice, director of the sports medicine center at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, N.J., said he values the experience of trainers and athletes.
Flexibility is an element of fitness, and stretching ought to make a person more flexible, Rice said. "I would say the conventional wisdom has a certain amount of wisdom to it," he added.
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2004/03/29, 04:03 PM
The first thing I notice is the guy is an epidemiologist -- which is someone who studies infectious diseases.
Second, I see no data to support their claims.
So I recommend everyone from here on out stop stretching right away!! :( :laugh:
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2004/03/29, 10:19 PM
Well, to the contrary, I am not a big fan of stretching. I have found absolutely no data/studies that confirm this in any way. Especially stretching cold. A warmup should always be done before stretching....think of a rubber band, if it is cold and you stretch it out, what can happen...pop! But, if you have a warm rubber band, you can basically stretch it till the cows come home. I never, ever stretch a cold muscle.
Value of Stretching to Prevent Soreness, Injury Questioned
Laurie Barclay, MD
Sept. 6, 2002 — Contrary to popular thinking, stretching before or after exercise does not prevent muscle soreness or muscle injury, according to a systematic review of controlled trials in the Aug. 31 issue of the British Medical Journal.
"Stretching before or after exercising does not confer protection from muscle soreness," write Rob D. Herbert and Michael Gabriel from the University of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. "Stretching before exercising does not seem to confer a practically useful reduction in the risk of injury, but the generality of this finding needs testing. Insufficient research has been done with which to determine the effects of stretching on sporting performance."
From a literature search, the authors identified five randomized or quasi-randomized studies of moderate quality which reported sufficient data on the effects of stretching on muscle soreness to be included in the analysis. Three studies evaluated stretching after exercising, and two evaluated stretching before exercising. Pooled analysis of data from 77 healthy, young adult subjects suggested that stretching produced small and statistically insignificant reductions in muscle soreness 24 hours after exercising, estimated to be only 0.9 mm on a 100 mm scale (95% confidence interval , -2.6 to 4.4 mm).
"Most athletes will consider effects of this magnitude too small to make stretching to prevent later muscle soreness worthwhile," the authors write.
Two studies on army recruits in military training showed that stretching before exercise insignificantly reduced injury risk by 5% (pooled hazard ratio, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.78-1.16). Because risk of injury in military recruits is high, approximately 20% over the training period of 12 weeks, a 5% reduction in relative risk implies a reduction in absolute risk of about 1%. The authors therefore conclude that the average subject would need to stretch for 23 years to prevent one injury.
"Although these data imply that the muscle stretching protocol used in these studies does not appreciably reduce risk of injury in army recruits undergoing military training, it is not possible to rule out with certainty a clinically worthwhile effect of other stretch protocols on risk of injury in other populations," the authors write. "It would be particularly interesting to determine if more prolonged stretching carried out by recreational athletes over many months or years can produce meaningful reductions in risk of injury."
In an accompanying editorial, Domhnall MacAuley, from The Queen's University of Belfast, and Thomas M. Best, from the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison, point out that much in sport and exercise medicine is not supported by research evidence.
"Stretching is long established as one of the fundamental principles in athletic care.... Sport is rife with pseudoscience, and it is difficult to disentangle the evangelical enthusiasm of the locker room from research evidence," they write. Other unanswered questions about musculoskeletal injury include the value of ice, compression, and elevation, as well as the optimal frequency and duration of these treatments.
"Much of sport and exercise medicine and the management of musculoskeletal injury has developed empirically, with little research evidence," they conclude. "Some of the basic principles of caring for acute injuries of the soft tissues have never been questioned, yet there is often little evidence to support common practice."
BMJ. 2002;325:451-452, 468-470
Reviewed by Gary D. Vogin, MD
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If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything....
bb1fit@freetrainers.com
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2004/03/30, 12:54 PM
I had always thought (although I have no evidence for this!) that there was little proven benefit from stretching before exercise but there may be some benefit from stretching after exercise.
In BB1fits example above the authors have pooled data from studies looking at stretching both before and after exercise, which could muddy the waters a bit.
personally I like to keep flexible, so I stretch after exercise.
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2004/03/30, 01:17 PM
Just did a rough lit search in order to educate myself and came up with quite a few studies which in laymans terms said don't stretch, it doesn't reduce injury or DOMS and I could find none which suggested there was benefit in stretching.
so there you go!:laugh:
and if you think you know what you need to without looking at studies, remember it took a study of tens of thousands of people to show that smoking causes lung cancer.
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2004/03/31, 02:59 PM
Very interesting, I stand corrected. I still don't know if I believe it though. From personal experience, the only times I have injured myself was when I just jumped right into what I was doing, without proper warm ups or stretching.
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2004/03/31, 03:50 PM
ah, now warm-ups are a completely different matter.......
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2004/03/31, 03:57 PM
I haven't ever pulled a muscle yet, I don't stretch but I do warm up b4 weights and biking. I have to agree with the theory.
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"A will finds a way, failure is not an option"
Ivan
carivan@freetrainers.com
Montreal Canada
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2004/03/31, 07:18 PM
Proper warmup can consist of many things. I make a policy to warm up with the process I am going to do...if I am doing weights, then I warm up with the weights. If I am doing cardio, then warm up with cardio.
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If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything....
bb1fit@freetrainers.com
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