To Stretch or Not to Stretch? The Answer Is Elastic
Good article from the NY Times:
www.nytimes.com/.../13Best.html
Excerpt:
The truth is that after dozens of studies and years of debate, no one really knows whether stretching helps, harms, or does anything in particular for performance or injury rates. Yet most athletes remain convinced that stretching helps, and recently more and more have felt a sort of social pressure to show that they are limber, in part due to the popularity of yoga. Flexibility has become another area where many athletes want to excel.
Parents
Former Member
It's interesting. Most physical therapists seem to endorse stretching despite the mixed literature.
The "increasing the distance between the joints" stuff is what causes shoulder pain for swimmer's though. Loose ankles cause pain for runners.
Oh, I have my fair share of that (shoulder pain :cry:). But I now know that I have naturally hypermobile joints (not looking forward to having kids one day and being at risk for injury with the rise of relaxin). But most of the injuries are actually joints stretched on one side due to weakness (rhomboids) and tightened on the other (pec minor). Well, it's not that simple, really, but there is definitely a balance that needs to be created.
And yes. We (colleges) have had many many debates on areas where research is mixed. And there are passionate people on either side. But if I've seen it work, read it works and used it, I'll believe it until someone convinces me otherwise. And that isn't just for stretching. There's a few areas of science I apply to work which is that way...
Oh you guys are all making me feel super nerdy. I could talk FOREVER about this area. I had a patient get me off on a tangent about Parkinson's Disease today...
It's interesting. Most physical therapists seem to endorse stretching despite the mixed literature.
The "increasing the distance between the joints" stuff is what causes shoulder pain for swimmer's though. Loose ankles cause pain for runners.
Oh, I have my fair share of that (shoulder pain :cry:). But I now know that I have naturally hypermobile joints (not looking forward to having kids one day and being at risk for injury with the rise of relaxin). But most of the injuries are actually joints stretched on one side due to weakness (rhomboids) and tightened on the other (pec minor). Well, it's not that simple, really, but there is definitely a balance that needs to be created.
And yes. We (colleges) have had many many debates on areas where research is mixed. And there are passionate people on either side. But if I've seen it work, read it works and used it, I'll believe it until someone convinces me otherwise. And that isn't just for stretching. There's a few areas of science I apply to work which is that way...
Oh you guys are all making me feel super nerdy. I could talk FOREVER about this area. I had a patient get me off on a tangent about Parkinson's Disease today...
