The Stretching Myth

Conventional Thinking: regular stretching is important.
Uncommon Wisdom: Stretching is worthless for distance runners.

Whether you stretch or not, you probably assume it is important. Doesn't it make you more flexible, more injury-resistant, even faster? But if that's all true, why is it that many Kenyans don't stretch? Why was legendary coach Arthur Lydiard not a fan of stretching? Why does Galloway say: "In my experience runners who stretch are injured more often, and when they stop stretching the injuries often go away?" And why do many studies keep popping up that show stretching may cause as many injuries as it prevents?

"Most runners have an unjustified faith in the benefits of stretching," says Paul Ingraham, a runner, massage therapist, and health journalist. "Plentiful research has shown that stretching doesn't help you warm up, ease muscle soreness, prevent injury, or enhance performance. In fact, no measurable, significant benefit of stretching has ever been proven."

Science backs him up. In reviews of the scientific literature on stretching in 1999 and 2000, published in the British Medical Journal and the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, stretching was found to have no statistically significant effect on reducing muscle soreness or injuries. A 2008 study of 1020 soldiers – half stretched and half didn't – found no difference in the frequency of injuries.

Ingraham's message is that you don't need to feel guilty if you do little or no stretching. But he admits that he still stretches some, simply because it feels good. If you're careful and enjoy stretching, you don't have to stop either. But if you're not sure how to stretch, don't have time, or hate doing it, don't bother.

Bob Cooper,
Runner's World, Sept/Oct 2009
The Rules (Revised), pg 47