How to Use the Latest Data to Support Flexibility and Stretching

 

The past few decades have seen incredible shifts in recommendations regarding the benefits, and potential risks, of different stretching protocols for athletes. Unfortunately, individual studies can have highly variable protocols that may lead to conflicting results and confusion for practitioners and their athletes.

Several recent systematic reviews can help sort out some of these discrepancies, but determinations of “best practice” regarding stretching are certainly subject to some controversy and future change, and it can be incredibly difficult to figure out the best advice to give a young athlete. Here, Dr. Michele LaBotz, TrueSport Expert and sports medicine physician, shares what we know now about stretching.

Static stretching—where you stay in one position and hold a stretch for a specified amount of time—was the original standard for stretches done by athletes. The original static stretching logic back then was simple: if you did a lot of static stretching, you would prevent injury and perform better.

However, over the years, that concept was ‘debunked,’ and some research came out showing that static stretching could decrease performance and increase injury risk. “After that, static stretching, whether before working out or as part of a warm-up routine, fell out of favor,” says LaBotz. “That’s when dynamic stretching became more popular.” As the name suggests, dynamic stretching is more movement-based, with athletes actively moving through the range of motion. For instance, bending over to touch your toes and holding that position for 30 seconds would be a static stretch, while leg swings would be a dynamic stretch.

But then, a recent meta-analysis looking at a series of studies done on stretching found that the uproar against static stretching was a “little overblown,” according to LaBotz. As with many things in the health and fitness world, the studies that initially scared people away from doing static stretching were more nuanced than headlines made them seem. However, there are still important caveats for athletic trainers to be aware of.

“It turns out that, in some cases, static stretches may actually help prevent injury,” says LaBotz. “It may also help to increase range of motion, which can potentially help with performance in a lot of different sports. But it doesn’t mean every athlete should do static stretches daily.”

So, What Does This Mean for You as an Athletic Trainer?

Variable Effects for Endurance Vs. Non-Endurance Athletes

“For high-performance athletes in non-endurance sports, avoiding static stretches as part of the warm-up may still be the best protocol,” LaBotz says. “There are some studies that show small decreases in speed and power immediately following a static stretch warm-up. However, other studies in endurance athletes show some improvements in running economy and decreased perceived effort after a warm-up that included either static or dynamic stretches.”

Understand Your Athlete’s Growth Phase

“Flexibility is particularly important for athletes who are in a rapid phase of growth,” says LaBotz. “As a young person grows, their bones grow first, and then the muscles and the tendons all stretch out to accommodate them before catching up. While they’re doing so, the athlete’s flexibility goes down since there’s naturally more tension on the muscles and tendons.” So, if an athlete suddenly seems less flexible and has recently grown an inch or two, that’s not a cause for alarm. LaBotz explains, “Sometimes just maintaining flexibility requires dedicated effort during these growth phases.”

Understand What a ‘Good Stretch’ Feels Like

Stretching should never be painful, says LaBotz. Part of the reason stretching got a bad name was because athletes would sometimes be forced into stretches that were too intense. (You may be able to recall a physical education teacher pressing down on your upper back to ‘help you’ go further in a seated forward fold, taking the stretch from pleasant to painful.) “A good stretch feels like a bit of a pull, maybe a small amount of discomfort, but there should never be pain,” says LaBotz. Always err on the side of caution!