Stretching Before Running Leads Injury

10/02/2014 Bretta Riches Running Health 38

Stretching before running may create tiny micro-tears in the muscle fibers and tendons which may effect endurance capacity and injury.

  • micro-tearing from stretching has been shown to temporarily comprise the ability of the muscles and tendons to absorb energy and shock for up to 1 hour
  • stretching increases the fragility and stress-susceptibility in the muscle fiber
  • stretching induced structural changes may cause certain muscles and tendons to be less responsive during running which in turn, may result in pre-mature fatigue, or injury

Stretching Before Running Leads to InjuryStretching Before Running Leads Injury

One of the rationale’s behind Run Forefoot is to promote natural running. Running comes natural to humans because early humans (hominids) used long distance running as the primary hunting method. Do you think our ancestors, 4 millions years ago, stretched before they ran?

Evidence on Protective Effects of Stretching is Lacking, HUGELY

Who said runners needed to be flexible? Our ancestors 3 millions years ago ran long distances daily while barefoot,  never stretched, and did fine.

Too Many Questions, No Answers

If stretching before running is, in some way, beneficial to a runner, what is the right amount of flexibility needed to be injury free, or to gain efficiency?  This has not been quantified yet.

Or, would stretching one muscle group effect the function of other neighboring muscle groups?  This remains poorly understood as well.

To what degree does stretching before running reduce injury in well-conditioned elite runners, or in well-conditioned recreational runners? Again, this remains unclear.

Just Warm-Up!

Too many unanswered questions remain about the role of stretching before running on injury prevention.  Therefore, it is probably not the greatest idea to stretch before a run.

I went through a period in my training where I incorporated calf stretches before running, until I partially tore my Achilles tendon. When I referred to the scientific literature, I discovered that one of the risk factors for an Achilles tear was ‘aggressive calf stretching’.  I never stretch now and have felt great ever since.

Accumulating research suggests an effective way to prevent running injuries is to do proper warm-ups before running:

  • warm-ups increase heart rate and muscle temperature and has been shown to be effective in injury prevention in runners compared to stretching
  • more research indicates a warm muscle is less likely to get injured than if the muscle was stretched

The best warm ups for me is a nice light jog for 15 minutes, sometimes I walk fast for a 2-3 minutes during this time. Skipping rope is another great way to warm up.  Butt-kicking drills are also great.

The Take Home Message

My theory is the human body functions best in terms of movement and energy expenditure when in its natural context such as walking and running.

Activities such as stretching may be an unnatural action for the body because if it wasn’t, we as humans would be more flexible than we are.  Stretching is for gymnasts, not necessarily for runners.

More From Run Forefoot:

References:

Armstrong, RB.  Mechanisms of exercise-induced delayed onset muscular soreness: a brief review. Med Sci Sports Exerc (1984);16(6):529-38.

Gleim et al. The influence of flexibility on the economy of walking and jogging. J Orthop Res (1990); 8(6):814-23.

Nelson et al.  Chronic stretching and running economy. Scand J Med Sci Sports (2001); 11(5):260-5.

P.S. Don't forget to check out the Run Forefoot Facebook Page, it's a terrific place to ask questions about forefoot running, barefoot running and injury. I'm always happy to help!

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