May 29, 20020

Great question! And one that has been greatly confused by "The Research."

A number of years ago some studies were done suggesting that stretching decreases performance and causes injuries.

Basically, the studies looked at something like static hamstring stretching before running and concluded that people were getting injured from stretching cold, stiff muscles. They also saw performance decrease because muscles were relaxed instead of fired up for activity.

Those studies caused confusion and disagreement about whether or not we should stretch at all.

Let me try to clear up the confusion. Consider that there are two different times to stretch and two different types of stretches. We do dynamic stretches to prepare our bodies for activity and static stretches after activity to relax and reset. See, easy peasy.

How to Stretch

Follow this general pattern to get warmed up, cooled down and stretched out before and after working out or playing your sport:

1. WARM UP
2. DYNAMIC STRETCHES
3. ACTIVITY
4. COOL DOWN
5. STATIC (RECOVERY) STRETCHES

Warm Up

Prepare your musculoskeletal, nervous and cardiovascular systems with some light activity before "stretching." Plan 3 to 10 minutes depending on how intense you expect your activity to be.

For example, before:

• Running - walk, then lightly jog
• Tennis/basketball/volleyball, etc. - jog lightly around the court
• Cycling - walk or jog lightly
• Soccer/softball/baseball, etc. - jog around the field
• Gym workout - use a cardio machine, do jumping jacks, jog in place

Dynamic Stretches - Pre-activity

This is where we find the most confusion around stretching. Before starting an exercise or sport requiring strong and/or quick movements, you need to prepare your body.

After your warm up, actively move your joints through ranges of motion similar to what they will be doing in your exercise/sport. Think of sprinters bending and kicking their legs, batters swinging the bat, swimmers circling their arms.

You can find more than enough examples of dynamic stretch routines for every sport or exercise on Youtube. Here are a few I like:

Activity

Do your exercise or play your sport. Work hard. Have fun!

Cool Down

Similar to the warm up, the more intense your activity, the longer you should spend cooling down. A few minutes of walking or arm and leg movements in place until your heart rate and breathing come down should do the trick for most moderate workouts. Here is a nice combo cool-down and stretch video:

Static (Recovery) Stretching

After your sport or workout and cool down, spend a few minutes resetting your nervous system and "lengthening" your muscles and fascia to prevent stiffness and excessive soreness.

This is where we find the more familiar stretches: quad/ "flamingo" stretch, runner's lunge, shoulder posterior capsule/pull the arm across the chest stretch, etc. Do those before you leave the field, court or gym.

Static/recovery stretches are also safe and effective between workouts, for recovery from sore, stiff muscles, and to maintain flexibility.

Bottom Line

I don't think I know anyone who says "I just love to stretch before and after I work out!" That includes me. It takes time and I just want to get my workout done or get out on the court.

But following these suggestions will help you prevent injury, move and perform better and just feel better!

For more information about fascia and stretching, or to schedule an appointment for Fascial Stretch Therapy, you can find me at jennhanpt.com.