• Question: What could happen if after doing sport you don't stretch?

    Asked by Alvaro U to Andrew, Dan, Emilia, Helen, Katy, LauraAnne, Stephanie on 9 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Dan Gordon

      Dan Gordon answered on 9 Nov 2016:

      This is a controversial question in many ways. Conventional wisdom suggests that we need to stretch, why probably to reduce the risk of injury. Problem is that there is no evidence to support this. SO just by doing stretches does not reduce the risk of injury when doing sport. Also we have come to realise that muscle which have been stretched also use more energy which means that in the end the person would fatigue sooner.

    • Photo: LauraAnne Furlong

      LauraAnne Furlong answered on 9 Nov 2016:

      The reason stretching is so commonly used after sport is because it is thought that after exercise, when the muscle is constantly lengthening and shortening, the muscle needs some help to get back to its original resting length. If you don’t get it back to its original rest length, then over time the muscle gets progressively shorter and tighter, and that might make it more likely to be injured.

      Research in this area isn’t clear as to whether this stretching reduces the risk of injury and there’s no research that shows it makes you less sore either; but there isn’t any evidence to suggest stretching makes you more likely to be injured or sore either, and some people say they feel better and looser the day after stretching after sport (and the mind is very powerful, if someone believes something works, they like to keep doing it). As a result, it’s still very commonly used. If you really want stretching to be effective in making you more flexible, you need to hold each stretch for about 30s, repeat, and do this several times per week.

    • Photo: Katy Griggs

      Katy Griggs answered on 10 Nov 2016:

      As Dan and Laura have mentioned there doesn’t seem to be concrete evidence whether stretching is advantageous or not. There may be a placebo effect ( you believe something works) when it comes to stretching. Although personally I find it beneficial for me, especially after running.

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