A lot of runners first reach out to me when they’re injured.
Could be a new injury.
Could be an old injury.
But a lot of people first contact me when something is wrong.
Which, to be clear, I don’t mind.
Yes, you should probably reach out to someone for help before an injury so it doesn’t happen in the first place – or at the very least before it spirals out of control – but I don’t do those things either so no judgment over here. Just a public service announcement nobody, including me, is gonna listen to.
I see you.
Anyway.
In that first conversation, the person almost always says something to the effect of “something injury something pain something I know I should be stretching more…“
At this point, it’s almost guaranteed.
It comes out of the person’s mouth like a reflex – I can only assume because they’ve been chastised by so many others about their lack of stretching that they just want to head it off at the pass before I say anything.
Like a smoker telling their doctor “I know I should quit” in order to try and avoid the inevitable lecture.
Most of us seem to think that stretching a little more would prevent all of those injuries.
But is there anything to support that?
Not really.
I mean, most studies on stretching will actually tell you that it seems to do nothing to prevent injuries.
A past version of myself loved to quote those studies.
You might have even heard me say something about it on a podcast a while back or read it in an old email.
And why?
Partially because it’s true.
A lot of studies seem to indicate stretching does almost nothing in terms of injury prevention.
But also because I hate stretching.
I find it deeply unpleasant and don’t enjoy doing it in any way.
And like most people, I am susceptible to confirmation bias.
If you tell me this thing I hate is bad for me or unhelpful, I’m more than happy to avoid it even further.
But let’s be honest.
If your range of motion is so shitty that you can’t move how you need to move in order to do the activities you want to do…
Then of course stretching is gonna help.
Of course it’ll lead to injury prevention.
You’re a runner – or at the very least I assume you are since that’s what most of my emails are about.
What’s required for running?
Hip extension – pushing your leg back behind you.
You should be able to push back with your glutes and create hip extension without tilting your pelvis forward.
If you can’t do that, then you aren’t going to be able to use your glutes very well.
You also are going to stress a lot of muscles that really don’t want to be working that hard.
Specifically, your psoas, a muscle that connects directly to your spine.
And your hamstrings.
And your rectus femoris (a “hip flexor”).
All of these areas that end up so frequently injured in people.
So if your hip flexors are so tight that you can’t create decent hip extension…
Then yea, stretching is very likely a helpful solution to your problem.
This is just one of many examples.
My personal battle is with my adductors…
So does stretching prevent injuries?
Maybe.
Depends on the context.
If you’re incredibly inflexible and trying to do hard things with your muscles…
Then yea, probably.
Now why do studies show little correlation between stretching and injury prevention?
Because much like strength training, it’s just not a thing you’re going to study well in a human randomized control trial.
To do that well, you have to give everybody the same movements, which not everybody needs.
Further, more than a few of the stretching studies I’ve seen involved pretty basic stretches held for 30 seconds after activity
Which just isn’t long enough to actually create any long-term, meaningful change in the length/tension relationship of a muscle.
For stretching to matter, it needs to be targeted to your individual problem and we need to hold those stretches for at least 60 seconds at a time to make any lasting change.
Preferably even longer.
So while half-heartedly stretching your quads for 20 seconds at the trail head after you get done running might help you feel a little better on the drive home…
It’s not going to do anything to prevent injury if your issues is muscle tightness.
But a couple sets of 90 seconds in a couch stretch two nights per week could help a lot.
Again.
Context.
If you’re really tight, then some targeted stretching might help.
The generic stretching program we did in middle school gym on the other hand…
Probably useless.
Regardless…
I’m not sure I have any big point here.
I just love coaching and feel like it often requires nuance and think we’ve lost a lot of that in trying to synthesize training into a bunch of 15-second social media videos.
Anyway…
If you also appreciate that nuance and would like to chat about it, I’d love to speak with you and help you figure it out.