People often ask me if I think that stretching can prevent exercise injuries. There are no current studies that prove that stretching prevents injuries during exercise. That being said, stretching as part of a sensible warm up will allow a body to more safely perform many motions to their fullest extent with less chance of injuries from over extending. The problem that many of us have when we exercise is that we allow our body to go beyond its normal limits. This is often when injuries take place. By sensibly stretching our muscles before we exercise, we allow the body to perform beyond those normal limits.
As someone who has over 4 decades of experience practicing the martial arts, 3 decades of long distance running, swimming, and biking, and an advanced degree in exercise physiology, I feel comfortable in saying that my personal experience indicates that sensible stretching makes sense as part of a warm up routine for any kind of exercising. Just make sure that the stretching you do is slow and sustained rather than the bouncing type. Bouncing while you try to stretch actually causes muscles to shorten rather than stretch because of a protective mechanism that is built into each muscle. ©2005 Thomas D. Manfredi, MS
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Online fitness coach Tom Manfredi is the creator of the site fitness-after-50.com. He has a master's degree in exercise physiology and over 20 years of practical exercise experience. This site is designed with the mature adult in mind. Learn more by going to fitness-after-50.com.
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