Is stretching helpful?

I get asked about stretching a lot. I’ve been asked if stretching should be done before exercise, after, if it will help weight loss, prevent injury and all sorts of variations of those themes.

With the advances of new technologies and research, many studies have been done and the conclusion has been that there is no actual benefit in stretching prior to activities. However these studies were done on athletes that were pretty well conditioned.

It seems as though there is no real answer other than, “it depends on the patient.” Here is my own way of determining if stretching would be helpful for a patient:

First I examine the range of motion of all the parts in question. If you can straighten out your knee and bend the knee to 120 degrees, that is considered normal. If your hamstrings allow full bending forward of your lower back, that is considered normal. If your ankle bends upwards 20 degrees, then that is considered normal. In all of these cases if a patient asked me if they needed to stretch I would ask, “what for?”

Secondly, if the patient has a limitation of movement, the question is then, is it from the joint itself or the muscles? Some people have joint problems, not lack of flexibility of the muscles. Stretching the muscles in that case is of no value either.

Thirdly, when a person has pain and there is a definite limited range of motion that is stressing the painful area, stretching is indicated and will help.

The limitations of stretching

Stretching doesn’t make you lose weight. Spending a ½ hour stretching everyday will not shed the pounds. I’m not sure why people think it will or where they read this information but it doesn’t work. You would be better off spending you time walking that ½ hour or doing something else.

Stretching won’t make the muscle “toned.” Patients will comment that they don’t want to have a lot of muscle, but they want to be “toned.” Stretching unfortunately doesn’t give you that look.

Stretching will reduce pain if and only if it is a direct cause of the pain. You have to know which muscles are the tight ones and you must only stretch those muscles.

Stretching will only prevent injuries if a lack of flexibility is the cause. I’ve seen articles in magazines advocating stretching prior to walking because “it will prevent injuries.” I’m not sure what type of injuries people get from walking, but to me it seems like a waste of time. That time you spend stretching should be spent walking more.