How Much Do You Really Know About Stretching?

Most of us grew up constantly being reminded to stretch — To stretch as warm-up during Physical Education classes; To stretch in the morning after waking up; To stretch to become more flexible etc. While it is important, the reasons and the benefits of stretching are surprisingly unfounded. Even as a former national rhythmic gymnast and ballerina who spent an hour everyday stretching, I grew up with way too many misconceptions.

Today, let’s set the record straight with the latest scientific findings about the true benefits and drawbacks of stretching!

Myth #1 — Stretching helps you grow taller

While many of us would wish this to be true, the reality is actually very underwhelming. During the day we get slightly shorter as the discs in our spine compress to cause a temporary reduction in height. What stretching can do is simply to decompress this pressure to help you revert to your original height, with no evidence that stretching can do any more than that. What stretching can do, combined with the appropriate strengthening exercises, is to improve your posture to make you appear taller, but that’s it!

Myth #2 — Stretching lengthens your muscles

This is a myth commonly spoken by barre instructors when in fact, stretching does not lead to any permanent lengthening of muscles. During a stretch, the muscles may be temporarily lengthened but the effect is short-lived and muscles revert back to baseline length within 10 to 45 seconds, depending on duration and type of stretching.

What stretching actually improves is your muscle extensibility. Through stretching, your stretch tolerance is improved, ie you are able to tolerate a higher level of discomfort during a stretch before your nervous system starts firing up pain signals to the brain. I guess we should give more credit to the phrase “Mind Over Matter”!

Myth #3 — Resistance training reduces flexibility

Similar to the point above, any immediate change in flexibility after performing resistance training is temporary and does not lead to permanent reduction of flexibility.

On the contrary, a study by a group of nine researches concluded that resistance training increases (and at the minimum preserves) flexibility. The key is to perform moves to the full range during resistance training!

Myth #4 — Stretching before workouts helps prevent injuries

Well this statement is only partially true, as it is dependent on the flexibility of each individual and type of stretching.

For inflexible people, regular stretching can improve flexibility, ensuring that you are able to maintain good posture and reach the intended range of motion during your exercises, thereby reducing risks of injuries like muscle strains. Note that we are looking at the frequency and not the time of stretching. The act of stretching before a workout itself does not directly lead to lower instances of injuries. On top of that, the benefits of stretching diminishes with your flexibility. For overly flexible people, further stretching can increase risks of other injuries such as joint dislocation, ligament strains and tears, or tendon inflammation.

Moreover, not all types of stretches have the same effect. Research shows that static stretching not only fails to prevent injuries but actually leads to a reduction in sporting performance. On the other hand, the statement does hold true for dynamic stretching, which helps to warm up your body before exercises, thereby preventing injuries and even improving sporting performance.

Myth #5 — Stretching after workouts prevents muscle soreness

A review of twelve relevant randomised controlled studies concluded stretching after workouts “does not produce clinically important reductions in delayed-onset muscle soreness in healthy adults”. That being said, don’t cut this aspect of your workout out just yet as other benefits of stretching after workout remain valid, including increasing your range of motion and enhancing post-exercise strength as well as muscle recovery.

So what should you do with this information?

As a start, you’ll know better when someone comes along and tells you that stretching can “make you grow taller” or “elongate your muscles”. You can also take on resistance training without reservations that your flexibility is being compromised while remembering to extend to the full range of motion during each rep! Most importantly, remember to perform dynamic stretching before workouts to get yourself properly warmed-up, and leave static stretches to the end to promote greater range of motion, post-exercise strength and muscle recovery!

Do you wake up feeling stiff in the mornings? Check out my 5 minute follow-along Morning Stretches video on YouTube!

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