Stretching Exercises Do *Not* Prevent Injury

Deep, static stretching before exercises does *not* prevent injuries, and it's unclear if short, dynamic stretches do either. So why do top-level athletes around the world stretch? They do short, dynamic, active stretches and movements to prime their nervous system, increase blood flood, and practice for their activity. This is smart.

CONTENTS
00:00 Stretching Exercises Do not Prevent Injury
00:52 Deep Stretchings Makes You Slower?
01:52 Deep Stretching Creates Joint Laxity?
02:24 Why Do Most Athletes Stretch?
02:45 Active & Dynamic Stretching Warmups
03:35 How to Increase Your Flexibility
04:00 Why Bad Posture / Poor Movement Causes Injury

So what should you do?

BEFORE EXERCISE: Active, short, dynamic stretches are a great idea before workouts. They will not make you more flexible or prevent injuries, but they will likely improve your performance and make your activities more enjoyable.

AFTER EXERCISE: Use long-hold, passive stretches after (not before) training to prevent shortening of muscles, to correct imbalances, and to fix postural problems that could lead to injuries. Fix your posture and that can, in some cases, improve movement and reduce injuries.

NOTE: after deep stretching, you'll have a 1-3 hour window where you'll be slower, weaker, and your joint will be more lax. This is to be expected, and this is why deep stretching to fix posture should happen after exercise or in the evening that same day.

REFERENCES
2014 Journal of Strength Conditioning & Research Study (running)

2015 Joint Laxity Study (soccer players)

CONCLUSION
Deep stretching, when you apply the Science of Stretching principles, can increase the range of motion in your hips, hamstrings, shoulders and more – and these are long term gains that will make you move better and reduce injury risk. So stretching doesn’t prevent injury, but deep stretching AFTER exercise can improve posture and better posture and movement patterns reduces your chances of injuries.

But wait… if I’m doing these deep stretches, won't they make me weak and slow? The effects of deep, passive stretching last for 1-3 hours. That’s why we do it after not before exercise, and often in the evening. Go to bed loose and relax, wake up ready to go.

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#StretchingExercises #InjuryPrevention #Flexibility

[YOGABODY.Official]

BEFORE EXERCISE: Active, short, dynamic stretches are a great idea before workouts. They will not make you more flexible or prevent injuries, but they will likely improve your performance and make your activities more enjoyable.

AFTER EXERCISE: Use long-hold, passive stretches after (not before) training to prevent shortening of muscles, to correct imbalances, and to fix postural problems that could lead to injuries. Fix your posture and that can, in some cases, improve movement and reduce injuries.

NOTE: after deep stretching, you'll have a 1-3 hour window where you'll be slower, weaker, and your joint will be more lax. This is to be expected, and this is why deep stretching to fix posture should happen after exercise or in the evening that same day.

Please subscribe if you'd like more science-based yoga videos.

Thanks for watching!

- Lucas

[sabrinafernandez]

Fabulous thank you, no stretching before sprinting, I am just getting back into sprinting after a hip flexor injury that sidelined me for a week. I will do my stretching exercises before bed from now on.

[StatchanaReborn]

Excellent information! Thank you!
I've also felt this loss of energy if I stretch too much before excercise.

[yasim]

If it defies common sense you need to look at the study limitations. The common sense is stretching increase range of motion as this study showed and so athletes could prevent injuries. Maybe for professional athletes getting faster and win is the main goal but for majority non-professional athletes preventing injury by doing deep stretch before sport is more important. Consider Achilles tendinitis case that frequently caused by calf muscle stiffness. Stretching it reduces abrupt load application to the tendon tissue. So athletes do stretch and dynamic exercise before sport and stretch after

[heatherjoy]

Loving your videos!
Can you please advise on morning yoga routines? Yoga followed by other workouts in the day- should that be avoided / moved to nighttime?

[Mindfullifting]

Short and to the point! Subscribed! What about doing it in the morning when there is more than 3 hours between the stretching and the workout? I really like doing it in the morning because it gives me an energy boost.

[aplik]

Beautiful, do you have videos for active stretching?

[anishussain]

Video not clear unfortunately. So before soccer for example should I strength or not? And after which kind of stretching?

[jeannefabrigar]

I have a knee injury and i want to get back to lifting heavy again. I heard somewhere that dynamic stretching is better before the workout. But are you saying to not stretch at all before exercise? And only after?

Thank in advance!

[deanfehr]

Thx for your advice. I can appreciate your advice on stretching before bed but honestly I’m tired and if I’m going to be stretching I really need to do it first thing in the morning. Am I missing out?

[samueloverend]

Do you have a video for a good stretch after workouts ?

[mossychalkbag-brei]

is it recommended to warm up before passive stretching?

[saram]

This makes sense! Thank you for this video! I was always under the impression that stretching before exercise would "lessen" chance of injury.

I've been looking for the best time to start your training sessions. Increased confidence and mentally feeling ready to commit have been huge factors.

[nehavara]

I want to purchase yoga Trapeze stand n hammock plz guide I m from India

[j.edwards]

What does research say about massaging/foam rolling before a run or workout?

[neilh]

Interesting that you mentioned not being able to interlace your fingers behind your back. I can do this quite easily by putting my right arm over my shoulder and my left arm up my back, but no way can I do it the other way around. What could be causing that, and are there any stretches I can do to give me more flexibility in that area?

[dauntlessbonita]

can you have a video about reducing edema?