Update for Chapter 7: Does stretching help prevent injuries

Since the publication of the first edition of this book, there has only been one clinical study that evaluated whether stretching affects the risk of injury. In the cohort study by Amako et al , the intervention was stretching both pre and post exercise. Although not statistically significant, the results suggested a decrease in muscle/tendon injuries with the stretching program, but an increase in other types of injuries, with an overall relative risk of injury of 0.77 (95%CI: 0.54,1.08) for the combined effect. Because the intervention included stretching both pre and post exercise, one cannot be sure if the observed beneficial effects (if not by chance) occur with pre-exercise stretching, postexercise stretching, or both. There were some limitations to this study, the most important being that allocation to stretch or non-stretch group was done by the company commander, and different companies may train at different intensities, different levels of fatigue, etc.