Kvetching about stretching

I'm a little surprised that the New York Times would mention this new study from the USA Track and Field website showing that pre-workout, static stretching isn't really beneficial.

The study, one of the largest of its kind, involved almost 1,400 runners, from age 13 to past 60, who were assigned randomly to two groups. The first group did not stretch before their runs, while otherwise maintaining their normal workout routine: the same mileage, warm-up (minus any stretching) and so on. The second group stretched, having received photographs and specific instructions for a series of simple, traditional poses, like leaning over and touching toes, that focused on the calf, hamstring and quadriceps muscles.

The volunteers followed their assigned regimens for three months. Predictably, since running, as a sport, has a high injury rate, quite a few became injured during the three months. About 16 percent of the group that didn’t stretch were hobbled badly enough to miss training for at least three days (the researchers’ definition of a running injury), while about 16 percent of the group that did stretch were laid up for the same amount of time.

I thought this was already generally accepted fitness knowledge, in much the same way it's accepted knowledge that food is better processed when it enters your system through your mouth, as opposed to your nose or ears. (Well, most of the time, at least.)

That said, when I replace my snide hat with my contemplative hat, I do have to admit there are a few interesting parts to the article, such as this:

One anomalous finding of the USA Track and Field study was that runners who were used to stretching and were assigned to the nonstretching group became injured at a disproportionately high rate. Almost 23 percent of them wound up hurting themselves during the three months. But no experts associated with the study or who have read the results believe that this finding intimates that stretching had been keeping them uninjured in the past. More likely, Dr. McHugh said, they fell victim to a training error, which, he explained, “in reality can mean any abrupt change in training patterns. Your body adapts to its routine, and if that routine is monotonously habitual as with many runners, it doesn’t take much of a change to cause an injury.”

Which brings us back to one of my favorite Yogi Berraisms, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

The study also points out that a third option - dynamic stretching - might be the best option, but again, I thought most people knew that. I guess I just forget sometimes how intuitive and in-the-know I truly am.