There are 2 main ways of stretching – the one you should choose depends on what you want from your body

Imagine this: you just woke up and got out of bed. Your feet hit the floor and your legs buckle. They are in absolute agony – yesterday’s run has really started to haunt you.

And then you remember that you forgot to stretch before and after your run. Surely that’s why you’re so sore today. Is that so?

We’ve all heard about the importance of stretching before and after exercise. But does it really make a difference? Here’s what the science says.

What is stretching?

There are many different types of stretching, but two of them are the most common static and dynamic stretching.

Unchanging stretching involves moving a muscle (or muscles) into a lengthened position and holding it for: short period of time – often from 15 to 90 seconds.

A common example would be to keep your heels on the ground while leaning forward to touch the ground with your straight knee to stretch your hamstring muscles.

Meanwhile, dynamic stretching involves actively moving muscles and joints back and forth within the available range of motion.

Common examples include swinging your legs back and forth, side to side, or swinging your arms in a circle.

Stretching before exercise

The main reasons people stretch before exercising are to boost flexibility, improve performance, and reduce the risk of injury.

Although we know stretching increases flexibilityits influence on efficiency AND damage is less clear. But let’s look at what the evidence says for each of them.

Flexibility

Both stationary and vigorous stretching boost flexibility, although stationary stretching appears to have some effect slightly greater effect.

Miniature-term stationary stretching inhibits sympathetic nervous system (your fight or flight system), which reduces the stiffness of your body muscles and tendons. This will make you more elastic immediately after stretching.

In the long term, stationary stretching is believed to boost flexibility by increasing length Your muscles and tendons or just creating you more tolerant of discomfort caused by stretching.

Efficiency

When it comes to improving performance, this will depend on the type of physical activity you perform.

If you’re going to be doing high ranges of motion – like gymnastics or dancing – then improving your flexibility after stretching will likely translate into better performance.

On the other hand, research has shown that stationary stretching can cause problems degrade performance by up to 5% in activities requiring maximum strength and power, such as shot put and powerlifting.

This may be due to the decreased nervous system activation we mentioned earlier, which makes it harder for your muscles to produce force.

However, significant disturbances only appear to occur during stretching over 60 seconds. Stretching for less than 60 seconds appears to have a minimal effect on performance (about 1%).

On the other hand, vigorous stretching increases muscle temperature and the speed with which the nerves send messages to your muscleswhich can improve muscle performance.

Lively stretching has been shown to increase strength and power in a small amount. This may make it a better option before vigorous activities such as sprinting, jumping, lifting weights or playing team sports.

Trauma and pain

When it comes to reducing injury, it’s not clear whether stretching before exercise is beneficial.

Many studies have shown stretching has no effect. However, many of them focus on the effects of stretching on all types of injuries, which may not show the true effect of stretching.

For example, a broken arm from a tackle could be grouped with a calf strain, but it would seem logical that stretching would be more likely to reduce the risk of a calf muscle strain than a broken arm.

AND last review examined the effects of stretching on various types of injuries and found that stationary stretching could reduce the risk of muscle, but not tendon, injuries. So far, there is no evidence to suggest that stretching would reduce the risk of bone fractures and contact injuries.

There is little research examining whether vigorous stretching alone can reduce the risk of injury. One study have shown that vigorous stretching can improve joint stability, which may reduce the risk of joint injuries (such as ankle sprains). However, further research is needed before any conclusions can be drawn with certainty.

Many people also stretch before exercise to prevent muscle soreness after exercise. However, research has shown Stretching before exercise has no significant effect on muscle soreness after exercise.

Stretching after training

The main reason for stretching after exercise is to improve recovery and reduce muscle soreness. The most popular method is stationary stretching.

However, as with stretching before exercise, research does not show that stretching after exercise reduces the intensity of exercise muscle damage or soreness.

This has also been suggested really intense stretching can damage your muscleswhich may even worsen muscle soreness. However, this is not a consistent finding and may only happen to certain people.

However, stretching works promote relaxation. Gentle stretching can be a good way to relax after an intense exercise session.

So what should you do?

Maybe lack of stretching isn’t the reason for pain after running after all. Your legs are probably hurting because you simply ran further or harder than usual.

However, this does not mean that you should not stretch.

Available evidence suggests that performing vigorous stretching before exercise will boost flexibility and improve performance, whether you plan to run, play a team sport, or lift weights.

Unchanging stretching can be great if you want to boost your flexibility, just don’t do it right before intense exercise. And after exercise, gentle stationary stretching can support your body move into a more relaxed state.