Stretching may offer extended benefits

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Stretching may offer extended benefits

Study shows gains in strength and endurance, but best timing still

debated

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21489011/

If stretching ranks among your list of health priorities somewhere

below turning down the volume on your iPod, a new report may give

you extra incentive to reach, bend and twist.

The study found that a regular stretching program may actually

enhance performance, making people stronger and increasing their

endurance.

" Stretching appears to do more than just increase range of motion, "

says study author Arnold , an associate professor of

kinesiology at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

" The extent that some people improved was surprising, " he

says. " Some people had fantastic improvements. "

says stretching won't take the place of aerobic and strength-

training programs, but it may supplement them. And stretching is a

smart idea for people who are traveling and don't have a good place

to work out, he says.

He also says stretching may especially benefit people who need

exercise the most but are too weak to lift weights or get

moving. " It's a catch-22, " he says, but stretching can be a good

place for them to start on a path to wellness.

believes stretching affects muscles in a similar way as

strength-training but on a smaller scale. " We suspect it's

activating some of the same things in the cell that exercise

activates, " he says.

Exercise physiologist Bracko, a spokesperson for the

American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), says the findings offer

some good news about stretching, which also can help keep people

flexible, improve posture and possibly allow them to avoid some

injuries and other aches and pains.

But Bracko notes that it's unlikely many people would comply with

such an intensive stretching program. Participants in the study

stretched for 40 minutes three times a week.

says the study was designed specifically to include a lot of

stretching to see whether there was an effect. While lab research

has found that stretching can boost strength in rats, the new study

is one of the first to document this in people.

He says it's likely that lesser amounts of stretching offer strength

benefits, too, but that hasn't been researched.

At the very least, and other experts say people should aim to

stretch all major muscle groups at least once a few times a week,

such as after exercising. Getting up from your desk and stretching

out throughout the day also is recommended to release muscle

tension. Plus, it just feels good.

Gains in strength, endurance and jumping

The study involved 38 mostly sedentary people who were divided in

two groups. One group did not do any stretching exercises during a

10-week period while the other group engaged in a program that

required stretching the legs for 40 minutes a few times a week. The

series of 15 static stretches in the program were aimed at working

all major muscles in the legs, including the hamstrings and

quadriceps. Several of the stretches, for instance, required sitting

on the floor with the legs out and then lowering the chest toward

the legs. Participants held each stretch for 15 seconds and then

repeated it three times. People in neither group participated in any

other kind of regular exercise routine.

Not surprisingly, those on the stretching program improved their

flexibility, demonstrated by an average 18 percent increase in the

distance they could reach during stretching, according to findings

published in the October issue of Medicine & Science in Sports &

Exercise, a journal of the ACSM.

But they also increased their strength, as measured by their ability

to perform on weight machines. The amount of weight they could lift

one time — their " one-repetition maximum " — increased an average of

32 percent for knee extension exercises and 15 percent for knee

flexion exercises. Their muscular endurance — defined at the number

of repetitions they could do at a weight that was 60 percent of

their max — improved 29 percent for knee extension and 30 percent

for knee flexion.

In addition, the stretching group saw more modest gains in other

areas. Their vertical-jump distance increased 7 percent and their

standing long-jump distance increased 2 percent.

Those in the control group saw no improvements in any of these

areas, results showed.

Timing still controversial

When to stretch has become a controversial topic in recent years,

with many fitness experts now saying that stretching before exercise

doesn't help prevent injury and may even decrease performance. As a

result, trainers typically advocate stretching at the end of a

workout, when the muscles are already warm.

But Bracko, who is the director of the Institute for Hockey Research

in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, says that try as he might, he cannot

get the hockey players he coaches to stop stretching before a game.

It's just so ingrained in them that pre-event stretching is the

thing to do, he says.

Not everyone agrees that stretching before exercise is inadvisable,

however. Dr. DiNubile, an orthopedic surgeon at the

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and

author of " FrameWork, " a book about maintaining healthy muscles and

joints, says studies showing that pre-event stretching doesn't

prevent injury have involved mostly healthy people, not the kind

that he often treats.

Aging boomers and people with pre-existing muscle or joint injuries

should stretch before exercise, DiNubile recommends. " My feeling is

you can never go wrong stretching before and after, " he says.

But he does advise warming up first with some aerobic exercise and

then stretching — and then doing the more intense activity.

" Stretching a cold muscle, I don't think that's a good idea, " he

says.

Think of your muscles as taffy, says DiNubile. Hard taffy will

break, but warm taffy will stretch and stretch. Gauge your stretches

accordingly. They shouldn't hurt. If a stretch feels like it's being

forced too far, it likely is.