In the clinic, we often hear “I know I should probably be stretching more” thinking less stretching is associated with a higher chance of injury. We wanted to dive into this and reveal some truths regarding stretching vs. strengthening and their role in injury prevention.

Firstly, let’s talk about stretching directly before athletic performance and the impact it might have. Using static stretching (holding positions for longer than 60 sec at a time) as part of your warm up routine does not reduce your chances of injury and can be detrimental to your performance. Stretching immediately before exercise has been shown to reduce peak muscle power and force output.

Performing stretching can result in increased flexibility. This was originally thought to be because the nervous system allowed the muscle to stretch further. However, evidence showed that hamstring stretching would result in an increase in range of motion but no change in the stiffness of the muscle, concluding that the hamstrings’ ability to tolerate stretch rather than actual structural changes to the muscle. Knowing that stretching can have a positive influence on flexibility, and if your sport requires a larger range of motion and if you have difficulty getting/moving into some of those positions, then stretching can be a beneficial part of your program.

Strength training is a very effective at reducing pain, improving function and quality of life in people with chronic musculoskeletal pain. The evidence is strongly in favour of strengthening being far superior to stretching alone for injury prevention, rehabilitation and sporting performance. However, including a stretching program into your overall strength and conditioning program can be important for those athletes looking to improve or maintain good mobility (as long as the stretching isn’t done prior to exercise!).

What is the Best Approach?

Overall, the benefits of strengthening are far superior to stretching alone when considering putting together an athletic program. Stretching can be an important tool for those athletes looking to work on mobility and getting into difficult positions. So for most people; no you don’t need to stretch more, and some sort of regular stretching routine is unlikely to prevent injury or pain from occurring. Got questions? Hit me up!