Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The importance of stretching

There is some controversy over in age-old exercise adage. According to a new report being presented at the American Academy of orthopedic surgeons meeting all that stretching you do before and after you exercise might not be that necessary. Researchers assigned about 2700 runners who run at least 10 miles or more each week into two groups. One group stretched 3 to 5 min. justified exercise and the rest were told not to stretch before working out. After three months the researchers found there was no difference in injury rates among runners to stretch before a run compared to those who didn't stretch. However in those individuals who were used to stretching and were told to stop 40% developed injuries. Critics of the study say they need more information about how much the athletes ran and the condition they were in. Experts on the subject say that stretching is beneficial particularly for people who do not have an opportunity to exercise often. Personally until I see more studies on this subject I continue to support the theory that stretching reduces the chance of injury

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