The Importance of Stretching Your Body
In a previous post about stretching, a study shows that you can increase flexibility and muscle tone by stretching. A separate research though indicates that stretching before exercise does not reduce the risk of leg injury during workouts.
Australian researchers recruited 1,538 men in the army and randomly assigned them to stretch or non-stretch groups.
Over the course of 40 sessions of physical training in 12 weeks, both groups started with warm-up exercises, but the stretch group also did additional 20-second stretches of the main leg muscles for a total of five minutes of stretching.
The researchers did not find a significant difference in the number of leg injuries reported between the stretch and non-stretch groups.
What did make a difference was the men’s level of fitness and age.
The five-minute stretching time used in this study may have been too short to result in benefits; still, the best way to prevent injury of any kind is to exercise consistently enough to stay fit.
Also, based on my own experience, stretching can help you with a strenuous physical activity. When I was going to the gym 3-4 times per week, the standard protocol was to warm-up by stretching the body before lifting weights. This is to reduce tear in the muscle and prepares the body for intense training.
