Effects Of Stretching On Strength Dependent Performance

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Acute and Chronic Effects of Stretching on Strength Dependent Performance Training programs for athletes often include both strength and flexibility exercises. Increasing strength is believed to increase athletic performance, while a minimal degree of flexibility, which varies between sports, is fundamental for optimal performance. Additionally, many authors and clinicians advise that stretching beyond this minimal needed flexibility before the main physical activity will reduce the risk of injury, improve performance , and reduce delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) (Beaulieu, 1981) (Shellock & Prentice, 1985) (Safran, Seaber, & Garrett, 1989). However, these claims are controversial. The purpose of this review is to determine the effects …show more content…

For instance, a systematic literature review of more than 4500 acute static stretching studies revealed that static stretching durations less than 60 seconds revealed no detrimental acute effects (Kay & Blazevich, 2011). Additionally, strength decreases were consistently observed following stretches with a duration of more than 60 seconds (Kay & Blazevich, 2011). However, static stretches held from 30-60 seconds may decrease force production in some cases (Behm, Chaouachi, Lau, & Wong, 2011). It has also been shown that the duration of stretching is not influence the degree of force lost following static stretching when the stretch was held from 15-30 seconds (Behm, et al., 2006). Conversely, the flexibility increases observed following stretches of 15-60 seconds are short-term and muscle flexibility will return to its pre-stretched length after 10-20 minutes (Vardiman, Carrand, & Gallagher, 2010). Thus, longer duration stretches may need to be held longer for improvements that are more prolonged in …show more content…

Several studies found no significant decrease in vertical jump performance following static stretching (Power, Behm, Cahill, & Young, 2005) (Little & Williams, 2006) (Kay & Blazevich, 2011). However, several other studies did find decreases of vertical jump performance following PNF, ballistic, and static stretching (Unick, Kieffer, Cheesman, & Feeney, 2005) (Cornwell A. , Nelson, Heise, & & Sidaway, 2001) (Cornwell, Nelson, & Sidaway, 2002) (Waltmaan, Mercer, & McWhorter, 2005). The range of decrease ranged from -4.5% to -7.3% and -3.2 to -4.4% with and without countermovement respectively. One study also showed a significant decrease and jumping performance preceded by PNF stretching, but not by static stretching. Another study found static stretching detrimental for jumping performance, but dynamic stretching having no effect (Church, Wiggins, Moode, & Crist, 2001) (Little & Williams, 2006). This evidence suggests that the use of static stretching may not be recommended before activities requiring jumping or jumping related activities since all articles in this review showed either a decrease in jumping performance, or no change in jumping performance following stretching. These results might be due to the stretching protocol employed as well as muscles

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