Stretching: Is There Actually Any Value?

Who hasn’t been told to stretch before?

Stretching before exercise as a warm-up, after exercise for recovery, to heal injuries, improve range of motion, and even boost muscle growth—stretching seems to be the panacea of physical activity.

Here is the first thing I know about stretching….

Whatever claims there are about stretching, if stretching has quantifiable improvements on your physical activity and you enjoy stretching then, yes it does work! Even if there is no evidence to support your individual experience, if it helps you in any way then the impact is REAL FOR YOU!

That said stretching has also received some criticism as of late claiming that it is virtually useless. What is the truth?

Lets see if we can dive deeper and look to see if stretching should be cut from your movement practice completely or if you are missing out by not including it at all.

First I think we should levelset our understanding on the different types of stretching.

When most people think of stretching they think of static stretching. Static stretching as the name implies, means that you are holding the stretch. The classic example would be a toe touch where you bend over and try to touch your toes and hold that position.

If you do this you will most likely feel the stretch in the back of your legs.

Other common static stretches are the shoulder stretch, calf stretch, and quad stretch (touching your heel to your butt).

However there are also stretches that are more dynamic. As the name implies, these types of stretches are stretching the muscles through movement. If you wanted to stretch the back of your legs dynamically, instead of holding a toe touch, you could do inch worms where you bend over touch your toes, walk your hands out so you are in a plank, then walk your feet back in towards your hands.

Other dynamic stretches include leg swings (front, back, and to the side), front leg swing to toe touch, arm crossover swings, and torso twists.

Much of the criticisms around stretching are directed towards static stretching. There are a number of studies that show static stretching can inhibit your exercise performance (Chronic Effects of Static and Dynamic Stretching on Hamstrings Eccentric Strength and Functional Performance: A Randomized Controlled Trial, n.d.) (Markovic, n.d.) (Walsh, n.d.).

A lot of the performance detriments of static stretching has to do with the elasticity of your muscles. Part of how your muscles work during exercise has to do with how elastic your muscles are. Let’s use an analogy that will explain how this works.

Let’s say you have a rubber band and you stretch that rubber band out and let it go it immediately snaps back into its original shape with a lot of force and intensity.

Now let’s say you have a rubber band and you leave it stretched out for a few days. When you release the stretch, it doesn’t snap back into shape.

This same thing that happens to your muscles when you stretch. If you stretch out your chest for a long time there is a potential that your bench press performance will decrease because the muscles of your chest are not as elastic anymore.

You might have noticed in our analogy that the rubber band only lost its elasticity if it was stretched out for a long period of time, this is an important caveat. Static stretching appears to only decrease performance when the stretches are held for a long time, most studies show a decrease in performance when the stretches are held for 60-90 seconds.

The other factor at play is the intensity of the stretch. If the intensity at which you stretch your chest muscles is high (meaning it is quite uncomfortable) the duration at which you need to hold that stretch before you see negative impacts on performance will be lower. If the intensity of the stretch is low, you could even hold that stretch for a long duration and there might not be any impact on your bench press performance.

So in order for static stretching to negatively impact your performance it needs to be intense and held for a shorter duration or less intense but held for a longer duration (Chronic Static Stretching Improves Exercise Performance, n.d.).

Recovery from exercise is another area where static stretching is supposed to help, however the research does not show that stretching improves performance when done in between bouts of exercise (The Effectiveness of Post-Exercise Stretching in Short-Term and Delayed Recovery of Strength, Range of Motion and Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials, n.d.).

What about the claims that static stretching helps avoid and heal from injuries? There also does not appear much evidence for that as well, with most studies showing no additional benefit (The Impact of Stretching on Sports Injury Risk: A Systematic Review of the Literature, n.d.).

Static stretching is not all doom and gloom, there is one claim about static stretching that appears to pan out.

There is plenty of evidence that suggests static stretching can improve range of motion (aka mobility) (Can Chronic Stretching Change the Muscle-Tendon Mechanical Properties? A Review, n.d.). So if you have mobility issues, static stretching can help in that area.

While static stretching has its drawbacks, dynamic stretching offers a different approach.

Since dynamic stretching is more active than static stretching it tends to be used differently. Dynamic stretching tends to get the muscles “warmed up”. This is because dynamic stretching will bring more blood flow to the muscles. Unlike static stretching with dynamic stretching you do not hold the muscles in an extended range of motion so the concerns about decreasing muscle elasticity don’t tend to be an issue with dynamic stretching.

In fact dynamic stretching has some evidence that it provides performance improvements due to the improved muscle activation and increase in muscle temperature that dynamic stretching provides (Acute Effects of Muscle Stretching on Physical Performance, Range of Motion, and Injury Incidence in Healthy Active Individuals: A Systematic Review, 2015).

Also like static stretching, dynamic stretching also tends to improve range of motion and mobility when done before exercise (Acute Effects of Muscle Stretching on Physical Performance, Range of Motion, and Injury Incidence in Healthy Active Individuals: A Systematic Review, 2015).

When it comes to injury prevention just like static stretching, dynamic stretching also does not appear to provide any benefit (Sen, n.d.).

Overall the claims around stretching appear to be mostly overblown when you look at the evidence.

Static stretching can be great for increasing range of motion and improving mobility. But dynamic stretching can also improve range of motion while not impacting and potentially improving exercise performance. If I had to pick one form of stretching to do then I think I would pick dynamic stretching.

However I think there is a lot of room for nuance when it comes to stretching.

If for example you are trying to address some mobility issues I would think doing some static stretching away from or after exercise might be worthwhile. You could even do some static stretching before exercise as long as you keep it to 30 seconds or so.

Personally I enjoy static stretching but mostly because it feels good. Once a week I will do 15 minutes of static stretching in the morning as part of my morning routine. I hold the stretches for a minute or longer and at a pretty high intensity. It is exactly what you would NOT want to do before exercise. I don’t exercise for several hours after this stretching session so it is not affecting my performance.

Like I said to begin this post, regardless of what all this evidence says about stretching it is most important how you feel when you stretch. If you find benefit in static stretching before you exercise even if the intensity is high and you hold them for a long time, who am I to say you should stop doing it. I encourage you to take into consideration what the evidence says and potentially play around with changing when or how you stretch, maybe it will benefit you…or maybe it won’t, but it can’t hurt to try.

In conclusion, while the benefits of static stretching are limited to improved range of motion, dynamic stretching can enhance performance and mobility without the risk of decreased muscle elasticity. Ultimately, the best approach to stretching depends on individual needs and preferences.

If you are looking for more advice that fits your individual needs and preferences my newsletter is a perfect resource for you! Whether it’s stretching, diet, sleep, or anything else lifestyle related, my goal is to give you useful actionable information you can put right to work. If you would like to keep up with all my content sign up for my newsletter using the form below and all this information will be delivered right to your inbox on a weekly basis.

References

Acute effects of muscle stretching on physical performance, range of motion, and injury incidence in healthy active individuals: a systematic review. (2015, December 8). PubMed. Retrieved June 18, 2024, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26642915/

Can chronic stretching change the muscle-tendon mechanical properties? A review. (n.d.). PubMed. Retrieved June 17, 2024, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28801950/

Chronic Effects of Static and Dynamic Stretching on Hamstrings Eccentric Strength and Functional Performance: A Randomized Controlled Trial. (n.d.). PubMed. Retrieved June 17, 2024, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30789583/

Chronic static stretching improves exercise performance. (n.d.). PubMed. Retrieved June 17, 2024, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17909411/

The Effectiveness of Post-exercise Stretching in Short-Term and Delayed Recovery of Strength, Range of Motion and Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. (n.d.). PubMed. Retrieved June 17, 2024, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34025459/

The impact of stretching on sports injury risk: a systematic review of the literature. (n.d.). PubMed. Retrieved June 17, 2024, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15076777/

Markovic, G. (n.d.). Does pre-exercise static stretching inhibit maximal muscular performance? A meta-analytical review. PubMed. Retrieved June 17, 2024, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22316148/

Sen, A. (n.d.). Effects of Static and Dynamic Stretching on Injury Prevention in High School Soccer Athletes: A Randomized Trial. PubMed. Retrieved June 18, 2024, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25933060/

Walsh, G. S. (n.d.). Effect of static and dynamic muscle stretching as part of warm up procedures on knee joint proprioception and strength. PubMed. Retrieved June 17, 2024, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28841537/