The case for more stretching

[michellelovesu]

@alfie13 I’m gonna go stretch right now

 

[thomasj18]

@alfie13 Thank you. This is so vital to me at the moment, I can’t even tell you. Thank you.

 

[alfie13]

@thomasj18 You’re welcome. I hope you’re doing well!

 

[mjh0607]

@alfie13 Can I timidly ask what's your area of expertise?

 

[alfie13]

@mjh0607 Of course you can ask, no need to be shy

I have a bachelor’s degree in biomedicine, and I’m currently working on my degree in virology (my research focus is HIV). So I’m not a medical doctor or physical therapist or anything; I’m just a gal who knows how to read and interpret scientific papers and who enjoys exercising

 

[kreke]

@alfie13 This is such a brilliant write up, it is extremely comprehensive and broken down in such an easily understandable way. I cannot compliment you enough. I’ve saved this post, it is just beautifully done.

 

[alfie13]

@kreke Thank you so much!

 

[fluffypiranha]

@alfie13 Phenomenal post - thank you!

 

[revelational]

@alfie13 Super interesting read! Can't believe the effort you've put into this, thank you!

So I'm guessing I'm back to working on my flexibility daily again, just happy to read that 1 min per muscle per day is enough haha.

 

[mbrett]

@alfie13 Thank you for doing this work and sharing !

 

[alfie13]

@mbrett Sure! I’m also doing this for myself because I used to believe too many lies the fitness industry told me, and I’m trying to get a more science-based view on thing and though I might share

 

[kemet]

@alfie13 5-10 minutes per WEEK? Like if I just spend 10 minutes stretching every Sunday my dumb hamstrings will get better?

 

[alfie13]

@kemet Yes, 5-10 minutes per week for your hamstrings should be enough, according to the review paper by Thomas et al.

Although they suggest you split the stretching time up into several blocks and stretch several times per week. So maybe 1min every day would work better? But ultimately you have to try it out yourself and see what fits your schedule and what works best for you, because these are just (scientific) suggestions.

 

[bmxguydfw]

@alfie13 Might be a stupid question, but do people typically recommend stretching even on your non-workout/rest days?

 

[alfie13]

@bmxguydfw Some of the studies looking into how to improve flexibility actually didn’t couple the stretching routine to another workout, so I would say yes. It’s not quite clear to me, though, if stretching a “cold muscle” is something you should do, so maybe include a light warmup if you stretch on non-workout days?

 

[bmxguydfw]

@alfie13 I see, thank you!!

 

[kemet]

@alfie13 Thanks! I always assumed it was way more than that, but this feels... surprisingly accessible.

 

[alfie13]

@kemet I was surprised about that, too! And you’re welcome, I hope it’s going to work for you.

 

[mags1234]

@alfie13 You only missed the majority of the literature here but you did a good job of supporting your personal bias.

 

[alfie13]

@mags1234 I agree, I didn’t cover all of the scientific literature. But if you enter “static stretching” in PubMed, for example, you get around 3’500 results, and I couldn’t have possibly covered all of them. And that doesn’t include other search terms.

It’s always difficult to decide which studies to look at and which to include, given that there are so many of them. That’s why I included a lot of review papers and meta-analyses, because they aggregate the data of tens or hundreds of studies in a single paper.

And I agree, sometimes there is conflicting data - science isn’t always as clear-cut as we would like it to be. But I did my best to include multiple different points of view and also present conflicting data, in an attempt to remove as much bias as possible.

If you could point out some of the studies I missed in your opinion, then I could have a look at them and see if I can include them in a revised post?