DON'T Stretch before exercise. Here's why.

[Joedoc]

I'm not looking for an argument, I'm just trying to provide accurate information to those who may be reading. I don't subscribe to Peak Performance or any other such newsletter on the internet, I try to read the actual articles. I do subscribe to the American Journal of Sports Medicine, the American and British versions of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery and various other orthopaedic journals. I am a practicing orthopaedic surgeon and team physician in the U.S. I feel I am qualified to render an opinion on the available literature. I have read many of the articles in their entirety, I do not just cite them, and I can provide many more than 32 references in support of what I am saying if desired. This is more of a casual forum and I did not want to make it a comprehensive lecture on the advantages/disadvantages of stretching. I imagine that there are people of varying levels of rowing experience who read this, and some of them will most definitely benefit from stretching.
I do not disagree with you that extensive stretching before exercise may temporarily decrease strength and performance. Stretching, when properly done, is an exercise in itself, it puts strain on the muscles much like lifting weights would. So one way to think of it would be that if you just did a set of weight lifting exercises would your strength be decreased afterwards - of course. This also explains why you may experience delayed onset muscle soreness after stretching. Stretching after exercise appears to increase the blood flow to the muscle and may even decrease the recovery time.
Stretching does not appear to decrease the rate of injury in certain sports, and since many people stretch for that reason it is an important distinction. However, the studies were done mostly with cyclists and runners, you have to be careful to extrapolate those results to other sports. Most injuries, especially in endurance sports, are due to overuse not overstretch of the muscle.
For rowing, stretching can increase the range of motion through which you can pull, which can improve your performance. If you are already flexible enough and are not restricted in your stroke length, then you will likely not see much benefit in stretching. If you are tight, especially in your back and you hamstrings, it may affect your technique, which may indirectly lead to injury, possibly of a different muscle group.
There are some good stretches for rowing on the C2 website, these can be done gently for short periods of time 10 - 15 seconds after a warmup session and before your main workout, they will be more effective if done after the workout though. If you are trying for a ranked piece or competing, you may not want to stretch at all beforehand, just do a 5 - 10 minute warmup to get the blood flowing.

[johnlvs2run]

QUACK ALERT

[JohnBove]

QUACK ALERT

Moron alert.

[johnlvs2run]

[Yankeerunner]

I'm not looking for an argument, I'm just trying to provide accurate information to those who may be reading. I don't subscribe to Peak Performance or any other such newsletter on the internet, I try to read the actual articles. I do subscribe to the American Journal of Sports Medicine, the American and British versions of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery and various other orthopaedic journals. I am a practicing orthopaedic surgeon and team physician in the U.S. I feel I am qualified to render an opinion on the available literature. I have read many of the articles in their entirety, I do not just cite them, and I can provide many more than 32 references in support of what I am saying if desired. This is more of a casual forum and I did not want to make it a comprehensive lecture on the advantages/disadvantages of stretching. I imagine that there are people of varying levels of rowing experience who read this, and some of them will most definitely benefit from stretching.
I do not disagree with you that extensive stretching before exercise may temporarily decrease strength and performance. Stretching, when properly done, is an exercise in itself, it puts strain on the muscles much like lifting weights would. So one way to think of it would be that if you just did a set of weight lifting exercises would your strength be decreased afterwards - of course. This also explains why you may experience delayed onset muscle soreness after stretching. Stretching after exercise appears to increase the blood flow to the muscle and may even decrease the recovery time.
Stretching does not appear to decrease the rate of injury in certain sports, and since many people stretch for that reason it is an important distinction. However, the studies were done mostly with cyclists and runners, you have to be careful to extrapolate those results to other sports. Most injuries, especially in endurance sports, are due to overuse not overstretch of the muscle.
For rowing, stretching can increase the range of motion through which you can pull, which can improve your performance. If you are already flexible enough and are not restricted in your stroke length, then you will likely not see much benefit in stretching. If you are tight, especially in your back and you hamstrings, it may affect your technique, which may indirectly lead to injury, possibly of a different muscle group.
There are some good stretches for rowing on the C2 website, these can be done gently for short periods of time 10 - 15 seconds after a warmup session and before your main workout, they will be more effective if done after the workout though. If you are trying for a ranked piece or competing, you may not want to stretch at all beforehand, just do a 5 - 10 minute warmup to get the blood flowing.

Thanks Joe,

This subject seems to generate a lot of argument. The anti-stretching folks seem to be the most vociferous, while some of the coaches and others quietly slip in suggestions for when and how to stretch.

Over the years I've come to believe that like height, left-handedness v. righthandedness, tendancies to go bald or not, percentages of fast-twitch v. slow-twitch muscle fibers, and necessity of eyeglasses of various prescriptions, we all have different degrees of flexibility that was inherited.

There will be some who never need to stretch, and they are blessed. Others won't need to stretch until they reach a certain volume or intensity of exercise (straw-that-breaks-the-camel's-back syndrome). The second group would be wise to not rule out stretching as some point, when injuries indicate that tightness has become a problem.

While not having read as many articles as others here, I'd like to throw out something from memory. I seem to remember years ago being surprised to find out that the most successful competitive weightlifters, far from being "musclebound" were actually flexible enough to easily touch their palms to the floor without bending their knees. Something that most skinny distance runners had trouble doing. To me that would indicate that a stretched muscle doesn't necessarily have to be a weak muscle. As for timing, I don't know. Maybe those successful weightlifters don't stretch before lifting, and maybe their flexibility comes from something else.

My own anecdote from more than 30 years ago is that my worst achilles tendon problem ever was eventually (over a period of years, that included 3 sets of orthotics, cortisone injections, and finally an operation) traced to tight calf muscles. After 10 years of distance running without stretching the strong calves simply pulled too hard on the achilles. My family inherited high stiff arches, lordosis of the lower back, and tight muscles from my father's side of the family. After 5 miserable years I discovered that regular stretching (both before & after) enabled me to run well again. Whenever I got lazy and skipped it the achilles would let me know within days that it was a mistake. As soon as I resumed the pain would dissipate then disappear.

If people don't like to stretch and don't have problems, I'd say "Fine. You are fortunate." Others should consider it to be an option though. Still others, like me, should consider it a necessity if we wish to be competitive.

I'm glad to see you posting Joe. I hope that you're not put off by Trolls and that there will be more in the future.

Rick

[Sean Seamus]

Joedoc -

let me add my voice to that of Rick in thanking you for your reasoned, balanced, and knowledgeable contributions

carry on - please

[Rockin Roland]

Thanks Joedoc for your valued and balanced contribution. It's a pity when idiots like J.R. try and spoil for everyone a good thread.

On the subject of who was used in the studies for stretching. The runners that were used in the articles that I have read were sprinters. Sprinters were tested on different days. Some days they stretched before a 100m sprint and others days no stretching was used in their warm up routine.

All those tested ran slower times on days when stretching was part of a their warm up routine. They attributed that to the reduction in power from stretching beforehand.

As far as I have read no long distance runners were tested for the relationship between strength and stretching as they were only studied for frequence of injury. One would assume in sports where power/strength only plays a small part, such as long distance running, the question of stretching before the event is not so crucial. That is unless they are already very flexiable and prone to injury through over-rotation of joints.

[Joedoc]

I don't take comments on message boards personally. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. My main goal in posting is to try to provide accurate information for those who care to read. There are no absolutes in medicine and things are always changing, things that are dogma today may be looked at as insanity in 20 years. Based on the available data in the medical literature today stretching is still very valuable. For every sport there will be an optimal combination of strength and flexibility which may be different for each sport, and may differ by skill level and fitness. We are rarely realistic in assessing our own abilities and shortcomings, and most overestimate their fitness level, myself included. For most of those people, maintaining flexibility at the expense of a few seconds off their split times will be more valuable in the long run. The person who is rowing every day has less need for stretching than the person who rows more inconsistently, which is the major problem with all of the medical studies that are done. They tend to involve higher level athletes who are already at a certain fitness level that may decrease their overall rate of injury. I see far more of the injured weekend warriors or those who have suddenly changed their activity level in my practice than those who compete on a regular basis. As always, the disclaimer holds, if you experience pain or discomfort while rowing or exercising, stop and be evaluated by a physician to avoid the risk of further injury.

-Joe

[H2O]

Thanks for this information.

[johnlvs2run]

What if the pain is from getting bad advice from a harmful medical practitioner.

Sad but that is often the case in this country.

[Strana]

is stretching good for after working out??

[Joedoc]

is stretching good for after working out??

In short, yes. See my previous posts. There are some good stretches for rowing on the C2 website.

Joe Alhadeff, MD