Stretching Before Running Doesn't Help, But Don't Stop Right Away [Exercise]

Stretching Before Running Doesn't Help, But Don't Stop Right Away

Stretching, especially the static reach-and-hold kind we've previously suggested was all wrong, had virtually no effect on injury prevention in a study of 1,400 runners, ages 13 to over 60. Not only that, but stretching could actually hurt your workout.

Image by lululemon athletica.

A new study from USA Track and Field was the result of a fairly huge undertaking, splitting up the 1,400 participants into stretch and no-stretch groups for three months of reporting on their running. The stretchers had to hold basic poses for 20 seconds that exercised their calf, hamstring and quadriceps muscles. The results?

About 16 percent of the group that didn't stretch were hobbled badly enough to miss training for at least a week (the researchers' definition of a running injury), while about 16 percent of the group that did stretch were laid up for at least a week. The percentages, in other words, were virtually identical. Static stretching had proved to be a wash in terms of protecting against injury. It "neither prevented nor induced injury when compared with not stretching before running," the study's authors concluded

via feeds.gawker.com