Stretching - A Beginners Guide

Stretching: Will it prevent or reduce soreness after exercise? Will it prevent an injury?

By Alicia Malcolm (BHSc Physiotherapy.Qualified Fitness trainer & Pilates Instructor)

Why do most of us stretch? Because we love it and love to use our spare time doing it I hear you say? The word stretch often co-exists with the phrase “ I’ll do it later”.
Well, the fact of the matter is that there is much research out there that is contrasting and can create confusion, causing many to just skip this step out. So what are the answers to the “when to”, “how long for”, “which muscles” to stretch questions?
This is not a scholarly article, but an experiential review, and includes some basic principles around this issue, written exclusively for Fitness Fusion as a beginners guide.

Often people stretch before physical activities including sport to reduce the risk of injury, minimise soreness after exercise, or improve performance.

A Cochrane Collaboration review of 10 randomised trials (though despite being a very credible source, is not a great number) looking at the effect of stretching, before or after physical activity on muscle soreness, produced very consistent findings.   They showed there was minimal or no effect on the muscle soreness experienced between half a day and three days after the physical activity. Effects of stretching on effect on other outcomes such as injury and performance were not examined in this review.  (Herbert RD, de Noronha M. Stretching to prevent or reduce muscle soreness after exercise. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 4. Art. No.: CD004577. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004577.pub2)

The good news.

So stretching may not have a “clinically proven” impact on muscle soreness post exercise. But definitely if you tear a muscle due to it being short and tight, I guarantee soreness. Here are different types of or ways to stretch that each may achieve different benefits. As a simplistic guide I would recommend the following.

The “When to, How long for and Why bother?”

• Static stretching could be considered as a regular routine of daily living,  not just for special occasions. This may include stretching following the equally important 10-15min cool down post exercise, for recovery and muscle length maintenance for soft tissue injury prevention.
• Stretching pre-exercise is activity dependant and also depends on how your body feels. If you feel tight or like you might hurt yourself....Stretch...or get the stretcher ready to pick you up later.
• It is recommended that one would stretch, ideally after a 10-15minute warm up. Chewing Gum doesn’t stretch well when it’s cold right?
• Certain activities that are ballistic, heavy in load or dynamic in nature, the performance of which may not be enhanced by slow static stretching and may even reduce power or speed output if sustained for long periods.
• In this case dynamic/ballistic stretching has its place, say if you are warming up for Cirque du Soleil, However is potentially dangerous for cool (un-warmed up), inexperienced/ inflexible stretchers.
• A muscle takes 6 -12seconds to even begin to stretch, so longer than 12 seconds eg. 20 - 30 seconds as one cycle of actual stretching repeated 2-3 times may be enough to restore the muscle to its pre-exercise length.

Why does length matter?

• We all have muscle imbalances, particular to our genetics and occupational activities, or lack of and how we perform these tasks. So from the perspective of muscle length, we may need to GAIN length in a particular muscle, to move adequately, with less risk of injury and improved performance. This would require stretching at regular intervals throughout the day for anywhere between 20seconds to 1 minute per stretch cycle.
• So in effect. 20-30 seconds x 3 may be a “recipe” for maintaining the length you have, which may not be adequate. 
• To GAIN length in short muscles it WILL require MORE stretching, as outlined above.
• Not all injuries are soley due to having a muscle that is too short! This is often a compensation for weakness in other areas, or the opposing muscle groups. So if it feels tight, it probably does need a stretch, be guided by your intuition and the results you get to some degree.
• Some injuries are not because of muscle shortness or tightness but because of length and weakness, or the stability around a joint or surrounding areas, formed by its muscle groups, their neural input, ligaments, capsules, and our biomechanics or the way we perform a given task.
• For example Hamstring strains: May not be just too tight hamstrings, but compensating for weak Gluteals or an unstable pelvis or lumbar spine problems. So stretching alone would be a treatment of the symptom and not the cause, but in some cases still part of the remedy. 

BUT it is probably worth visiting someone that specialises in muscle balance, who may come in the form of an exceptional Personal Fitness trainer, Physiotherapist, Massage Therapist or other Exercise professionals who can accurately prescribe a few exercises to remedy the deficits and help with correct technique with your strengthening and stretching regime. Talk to the friendly team at Fitness Fusion for advice.

This material was composed by and is property of Alicia Malcolm ©2009.