The facts: Long promoted as a way to prevent injury, reduce soreness and speed post-exercise recovery, stretching may not fulfill its promise. Over the years, scientists have found that stretching before or after a workout has little effect on either risk of injury or the discomfort that comes a day or more after challenging physical activity.
Numerous studies have reached this conclusion. One of the most recent and extensive reports was published in October in The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
The report reviewed 10 randomized studies, which overall looked at the impact of stretching before and after exercise, in repeated sessions and in intervals ranging from 40 seconds to 10 minutes. The authors concluded that stretching had little or no effect on post-exercise soreness.
Another systematic review, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise in 2004. It looked at multiple studies and found that stretching “was not significantly associated with a reduction in total injuries” but also concluded that additional research was needed.