Today’s article looks at the effect of stretching on post-exercise muscle soreness
What’s the deal?
To stretch or not to stretch? We all grew up being told that stretching is the key to avoiding muscle injury and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), but how much benefit can stretching really provide?
What did they do?
Twelve experimental studies were put together and re-analysed as one, with around 2500 participants. All experiments included some element of stretching, either before, after, or both before and after physical exercise. Data from these studies was then used to determine estimated muscle soreness out of 100 points. A score of 100 would be the most DOMS and a score of zero would be no DOMS.
What happened?
Stretching before exercise led to a score improvement of 0.5 points (out of 100) and stretching after exercise led to an improvement of 1 point. Stretching both before and after exercise led to a 4 point improvement over 1 week. Overall, this would be regarded as a minor change, if any.
What else should I know?
It is difficult to eliminate bias in experiments like this. Muscle soreness is subjective and naturally, people might feel better if they know they are in the group that is expected to improve (i.e. stretching). This is known as a type of placebo effect. With this in mind, you would expect more than a 4% improvement.
What will I do differently?
The improvements seen from stretching are not life changing; this article suggests that maybe you will feel up to 4% better over one week! I personally hate stretching, especially after sport. Stretching does allow me to get in the zone for competitions though, so maybe I’ll continue my quick pre-exercise stretch routine and take that 0.5% improvement in DOMS!
This research was published in July 2011 by RD Herbert and colleagues from The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney, Australia.
This article highlights our personal take on their research. Check it out here and see what you think!
Abstract Athlete 
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