A recent study, soon to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, suggests that stretching before running does not reduce the risk of injury. This has been featured on the BBC Health site.
Running is a very popular and worldwide activity with an estimated 70 million people taking part either as fitness training or in competitions.
Stretching has be routinely taught before all athletic performance for many years although doubts have been expresses over the last few years as to its benefit or even that it might be harmful.
In this study, the researcher was Dr Daniel Pereles of Montgomery Orthopedics in Washington DC. He found the results were surprising overall - “ The risk for injury was the same for men and women, whether or not they were high or low mileage runners, and across all age groups”. If a runner had suffered an injury in the last four months or was above a certain weight this resulted in an increased risk of injury.
A stretching and non-stretching group were compared with no differences found between them. However, those runners who typically stretched before running and were put into the trial's non-stretching group were most likely to get injured.
Dr Pereles interpreted his finding as “ that an immediate shift in a regimen may be more important than the regimen itself” so it is important to stick to a regime once you are happy with it and there are no negative aspects. Changing it carries risks.
Manchester physiotherapists keep up to date with current concepts in stretching and fitness and are able to assess and treat a wide range of musculoskeletal and sports injuries.
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