Negative Effects of Static Stretching Negated?

It goes without saying that the “commonly” held belief about stretching entering 2010 is that an athlete should not perform static stretches immediately prior to competition. If you have yet to read Stretching the Truth, I suggest you do so prior to reading this particular post.

As you can see, we have a long way to go before we can convincingly tell ourselves when and when not to stretch, but before you proceed with forming an opinion, here’s ANOTHER study (published just last month) to add to your growing list of research papers pertaining to stretching and performance. In particular, feel free to throw this paper in the “Yes” (to stretching) basket.

Negative effect of static stretching restored when combined with a sport specific warm-up component (Taylor et al, 2009)

Purpose:

To examine whether the “typical” decline in performance attributed to static stretching still exists following a sport-specific warm-up.

Outcome measures:

Speed (20m sprint)
Leg extensor strength (countermovement vertical jump)

Subjects:

13 netball players (gender not reported)

Methods:

Players performed a submaximal run
This was followed by an acute bout of static stretching (experimental group) or dynamic stretching (control group)
Performance tests were then administered (20m sprint and CM VJ)
A netball-specific skill warm-up was then performed
Performance tests were repeated

Static stretches: calves (standing), achilles tendon (kneeling), hamstring (seated), gluteus maximus (seated with forward lean), quadriceps (standing), lower back (lying), groin (seated), hip flexor (kneeling), quadratus lumborum. All stretches were held for 30s.

Dynamic stretches: high knees, butt flicks, carioca, hamstring swings, groin swings, arm swings, rapid high knees, side stepping, spiderman walks, upper body rotations, vertical jumps, countermovement jumps, and sprints.

Netball-specific skill warm up: short sprints, shuffling, accelerations, direction changes, single and double legged jumps. THese were performed at game intensity or just slightly below.

Results:

Static stretching group performed worse than those in the dynamic stretching group during the first testing procedure (following a bout of only static OR dynamic stretching)
Post sport-specific warm-up, this study revealed NO DIFFERENCES between the two groups in the sprint and leg extension power tests.

Notes:

The authors admit that the initial differences may be due to differences in muscle temperature between the static and dynamic groups. (This was not confirmed)
The authors suggest that static stretching, if included in a warm up, should be performed prior to mod- to high-intensity warm-up activities that are skill based.
The authors recommend that the total time under tension for each muscle group should be no greater than 2 min (30 s – 2 min).

My opinions on this study:

The static stretches included were too vague to be able to replicate this study with high precision (no images/pictures included)
The static stretching protocol was too general (seemed to lack intent)
Too many variables were included and not controlled for (i.e. via multiple regression analysis)
Regardless, this does seem practical and I would like to see more studies performed to help solidify their argument.

Photo source

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