Stretching the Truth about Injury Prevention

Most athletes would never consider exercising without stretching first. However, stretching before intensive training does not appear to pay off in fewer injuries. Age and fitness levels seem to be more important factors in predicting whether a person ends up with a leg, hip, or foot injury.

These conclusions come from a recent study of 1538 army recruits. Before going through 11 weeks of intensive training, each of the recruits was randomly placed in either a stretching or a control group. Before each training session, members in the stretching group did six different stretches, holding each one for 20 seconds. The control group did regular warm-ups without doing any stretches. At the end of the 11 weeks, researchers tallied 333 total injuries to the lower limbs. The injuries were split nearly fifty-fifty between the two groups.

The authors calculated that it would take 3100 stretching sessions, each lasting five minutes, to prevent one injury. This means 260 hours of stretching. The authors conclude that stretching before exercise to prevent injury is "of dubious clinical significance."

Age and fitness levels were better indicators of lower-limb injuries. The authors found that "the least fit subjects were 14 times more likely too sustain a lower-limb injury than the fittest subjects." Older recruits also had significantly more injuries.

So what is the truth about stretching? It seems to be that improved overall fitness is the best way to reduce training-related injuries of the lower limbs.