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Stretching: No Evidence It Prevents Running Injuries
It is a myth that static stretching improves running performance and decreases the risk of injuries.
Are you a runner? You may have heard certain beliefs about running injury risks, injury risk reduction, and performance. While anecdotal reports have some value, I want to offer you some recommendations based on higher-level evidence.
In Melbourne, Australia, physiotherapists from La Trobe University are researchers who happen to run most days of the week. They also work with runners of various abilities. When chatting with their clients, they often dispel myths regarding warm-up activities and stretching.
To provide information, these physiotherapists created a series of five “Running Myth” infographics, in which they discuss strength training and heavy resistance exercises. In their stretching publication, they bust the myth that static muscle stretching (or lengthening a muscle to the point of tension for thirty seconds per stretch) reduces injury probability. They also destroy the mistaken belief that static stretching reduces delayed-onset muscle soreness after strenuous runs.
In contradistinction, the researchers offer that stretching improves joint range of motion and can help runners after a run. Given the stress running places on joints and tissues, runners have a higher…
