Sep
5
2023
Stretching before a run neither prevents nor causes injury, according to a study presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).
Recently there has been controversy regarding whether runners should stretch before running, or not at all. Another new study included 2,729 runners who run 10 or more miles per week. Of these runners, 1,366 were randomized to a stretch group, and 1,363 were randomized to a non-stretch group before running. Runners in the stretch group stretched their quadriceps, hamstrings, and gastrocnemius/soleus muscle groups. The entire routine took 3 to 5 minutes and was performed immediately before running.
The study found that stretching before running neither prevents nor causes injury. In fact, the most significant risk factors for injury included the following:
history of chronic injury or injury in the past four months;
higher body mass index (BMI); and
switching pre-run stretching routines (runners who normally stretch stopping and those who did stretch starting to stretch before running).
“As a runner myself, I thought stretching before a run would help to prevent injury,” said Daniel Pereles, MD, study author and orthopaedic surgeon from Montgomery Orthopedics outside Washington, DC. “However, we found that 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. But, the more mileage run or the heavier and older the runner was, the more likely he or she was likely to get injured, and previous injury within four months predisposed to even further injury,” he added.
Runners who typically stretch as part of their pre-run routine and were randomized not to stretch during the study period were far more likely to have an injury. “Although all runners switching routines were more likely to experience an injury than those who did not switch, the group that stopped stretching had more reported injuries, implying that an immediate shift in a regimen may be more important than the regimen itself,” he added.
The most common injuries sustained were groin pulls, foot/ankle injuries, and knee injuries. There was no significant difference in injury rates between the runners who stretched and the runners who didn’t for any specific injury location or diagnosis.
Sep
5
2023
This study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, April 2008. The authors and studies are from Chukyo University, Japan.
WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ON THIS TOPIC
It is generally believed that the massage is effective for recovery of the fatigue after the exercise.
However, the authors believed that the type of massage is an important factor. For example, the authors assumed that effleurage has little effect on blood flow.
WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS
This study shows that petrissage massage had effective for decrease of perceived lower-limb
fatigue and muscle stiffness, and recovery of total power during bicycle ergometer pedaling.
Objective: Petrissage is assumed to influence circulation as well as interstitial drainage of both superficial and deep tissues. To study its effect it was applied between consecutive bouts of supra-maximal exercise performed by the lower leg muscles.
Methods: Subjects were 11 healthy female students actively engaged in sports. Exercise bouts of ergometer cycling at loads determined individually (0.75 kp x body weight [kg]) for 5 sec repeated 8-times at intervals of 20 sec had to be performed twice on an experimental day with 35 min intermittent bed rest. Each subject was investigated on two occasions with a minimum interval of one week, once without (control, CO) and once with 10 min petrissage (massage, MA) of the exercising lower leg during the bed rest phase. Effects of exercise bouts on blood lactate, muscle stiffness and perceived lower-limb fatigue and their recovery before and after the second exercise bout were determined.
Result: For the first exercise bouts total power did not differ between massage and control. Courses of blood lactate did not differ between massage and control. However, recovery from measured muscle stiffness and perceived lower-limb fatigure were more pronounced, and total power during the second exercise bout was enhanced in massage as compared to control subjects.
Conclusion: Petrissage improved cycle ergometer pedaling performance independent of blood lactate, but in correlation with improved recovery from muscle stiffness and perceived lower-limb fatigue.
http://bjsm.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/bjsm.2007.044396v1
