We always teach our patients that prevention is better than cure, but does stretching actually help with injuries?

At Pro Performance Clinics we get asked about this all the time at both our Notting Hill Gate Chiropractic Clinic W8 and our City of London Liverpool St Chiropractic Clinic EC2M. So here’s a quick glance at the facts…Stretching…What is it good for?

Stretching for Warm Up? Verdict: Bad

Pre-Exercise Stretching does little to “warm up” the body, in fact it can actually increase the risk of injury in athletes!

What to do instead: 10 minutes of gentle heart rate and muscle warming exercises such as the cross-trainer, combined with body weight only full range of motion movements such as lunges.

Stretching for preventing muscle soreness? Verdict: Bad

Research suggest that delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is not dramatically reduced by stretching post workout

What to do instead: A gentle 10 minute cool down period at the end of a session will ease DOMs far more effectively than a stand alone stretching session. Try to perform the reverse of your dynamic warm up to reduce your risk of injury.

Stretching for Flexibility: Verdict: Good

That’s right folks, stretching is pretty much good for one thing and one thing only. Getting better at…Stretching!

We see people all the time that need to stretch certain parts of their body to unlock tension from overuse or biomechanical misalignment, this should be advised by your Pro Performance Clinician or Personal Trainer.

If you are in pain today call…

Amanda or Andrea to book a consultation with our experienced Chiropractor and help you get back to training asap.