2003 WINNER

Evidence proves elastic in the workout debate

By Clare Neve
Winner of the 16-19 category

Last year I was lucky enough to be selected to represent England in the pole vault. I love the sport as it combines agility,power and a huge adrenaline rush. There is one slight downside,however: the interminable stretching as one waits between each attempt at the bar.

Can stretching really help you improve your flexibility, lower your risk of injury and improve your performances,as many stretching advocates claim? If so,should you stretch before or after your workouts? New research makes it clear that,in terms of improving your flexibility, it's probably best to stretch during or after your workout,not before.

"Stretching before exercising in the hope of preventing injuries is a waste of time," according to research conducted at the Army Recruit Training Centre near Wagga Wagga, Australia. Researchers here have advised the country's army to consign the tradition to the scrap heap. "Stretching before exercise to prevent lower-limb injury is futile," claims defence physiotherapist Dr Rod Pope.

While working with colleagues at the Sydney University and Charles Sturt University,Dr Pope monitored more than 2,600 recruits over the course of a year,in what is believed to be the world's first controlled trials to isolate the effects of pre-exercise stretching on injury risk. Recruits were randomly divided into two groups. Half were given stretches to perform before exercise sessions and the other half did not stretch at all over a 12-week period. Surprisingly, there were no differences in injury rates between the two groups throughout the course of training, though the overall injury rates were high (20 per cent in 12 weeks). "We were able to rule out even quite a small effect of stretching," says Pope.

"Stretching was assumed to work in preventing injury,but there was no evidence to suggest it did. We are telling the army to no longer stretch, but it's a long tradition and tradition dies hard."

Despite this advice,Pope stresses that it may still be important to stretch muscles that are tight and could restrict the normal range of movement.

However, UK Athletics chief physiotherapist, Dean Keneally disagrees,stating that a number of other factors need to be taken into consideration before a definite conclusion is made. These recruits were young adolescents undertaking a high training load over a short period of time, probably a dose of it in combat boots. It was not a group of elite athletes who had systematically built up their training load over a number of years. If athletics coaches were to increase the training volume this quickly, one could argue that no amount of stretching would decrease injury rates.

Keneally suggests:"Stretching must be specific to the individual athlete. " A sprint hurdler's stretching will vary greatly compared with that of a marathon runner.

Research has also suggested that hip tightness is a good thing in sprinting, as the muscle acts as an elastic band and recoils, adding force to the leg coming through. It may therefore actually enhance performance if the athlete does not stretch prior to running. Keneally advises that this evidence should be taken "with a word of warning ". He suggests that there needs to be a balance between too much tightness and not enough, depending on the event.

The improvement in flexibility and potential augmentation of recovery that are noted when stretching occurs after a vigorous workout may help to explain the findings of Dr David Lally, an exercise physiologist at the University of Hawaii-Manoa who carefully studied 1,543 participants in the Honolulu Marathon.

Lally found that runners who stretched after their workouts had low rates of injury, compared with runners who didn't stretch, while runners who stretched before training sessions had higher rates of injury.

Although this study may seem remarkable at first glance, the research is not that surprising when examined carefully. Lally said: "Although it's popular to position stretching before the beginning of a workout, there's actually very little resemblance between that act of stretching out a muscle and the contractions which muscles undergo during a typical workout. "

A large number of studies carried out in the medical field have shown that stretching stimulates the passage of amino acids into muscle cells, accelerates protein synthesis inside the cells, and inhibits protein degradation. Thus, post-workout stretching should help muscle cells repair themselves and synthesise energy-producing enzymes and biomolecules that enhance overall fitness.

Research into this field is still embryonic. Robert Price of Deakin University in Melbourne, states: "There is no evidence that points unequivocally one way or the other. ''

Fads come and go. Stretching has been around in its various forms for decades, but its role in elite sport is now being seriously questioned.