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I wish they'd make more of a distinction between pre- and post-exercise stretching. As I understand it, pre-exercise stretching really is pretty useless if not

I wish they'd make more of a distinction between pre- and post-exercise stretching. As I understand it, pre-exercise stretching really is pretty useless if not outright harmful. That's what the article seems to focus on, but it's maddeningly vague. OTOH, I haven't heard such a severe indictment of post-exercise stretching. It's what I do. I run more than 95% of other runners who enter 1000 km/year challenges that enable me to make such comparisons, and that's already a pretty self-selected group. I've had one serious encounter with plantar fasciitis, lesser incidents of ankle or knee tenderness, and occasionally some mild shin splints. I feel like some simple stretches - nothing aggressive or elaborate - after each run have helped with some of these. Perhaps stretching really is over-hyped, but this article seems just as questionable on the other side.

amb23 8y ago
I'm interested in this difference too, because anecdotally post-workout stretching does reduce soreness for me. One of the two studies referenced in the part about how stretching doesn't prevent DOMS actually did find that stretching decreased soreness, and post-workout stretching decreased it more than pre-workout stretching: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21735398 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21735398. But, as the paper authors termed it, the effects were "clinically insignificant" (not the same as "statistically insignificant"). The results still strike me as odd from my personal experience, because it's so predictable that I'll be sore if I lift weights without a 5-10 min cool down afterwards. I'd want to see added research beyond these couple of studies before jumping to a conclusion.
justinator 8y ago
TFA seemed only to touch upon static stretching and not dynamic stretching, the latter which I would recommend (conservatively) if only to gently test one's own range of motion. I was also pretty surprised the author didn't differentiate between flexibility and mobility- the latter being pretty important in sport. Lack of mobility can be a sign of a muscle imbalance which has nothing to do with the hypothesis of muscle plasticity (the debunking of which i agree with the article on)

amb23 8y ago

I'm interested in this difference too, because anecdotally post-workout stretching does reduce soreness for me. One of the two studies referenced in the part about how stretching doesn't prevent DOMS actually did find that stretching decreased soreness, and post-workout stretching decreased it more than pre-workout stretching: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21735398 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21735398. But, as the paper authors termed it, the effects were "clinically insignificant" (not the same as "statistically insignificant"). The results still strike me as odd from my personal experience, because it's so predictable that I'll be sore if I lift weights without a 5-10 min cool down afterwards. I'd want to see added research beyond these couple of studies before jumping to a conclusion.

justinator 8y ago

TFA seemed only to touch upon static stretching and not dynamic stretching, the latter which I would recommend (conservatively) if only to gently test one's own range of motion. I was also pretty surprised the author didn't differentiate between flexibility and mobility- the latter being pretty important in sport. Lack of mobility can be a sign of a muscle imbalance which has nothing to do with the hypothesis of muscle plasticity (the debunking of which i agree with the article on)