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Stretching for performance enhancement.

Jeni R McNeal¹, William A Sands

¹Department of Physical Education, Health and Recreation, Eastern Washington University, 200 Physical Education Building, Cheney, WA 99004, USA. Jeni_McNeal@hotmail.com

Current Sports Medicine Reports

|April 28, 2006

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Stretching exercises may not universally enhance athletic performance. Emerging research suggests neural factors influencing range of motion are crucial for sports performance, challenging traditional flexibility training.

Area of Science:

Sports Science
Exercise Physiology
Biomechanics

Background:

Stretching exercises are traditionally included in physical training to improve flexibility and potentially athletic performance.
While flexibility is linked to performance in some sports, athlete and coach observations question the universal benefit of stretching.
Empirical data increasingly supports skepticism regarding stretching's direct performance enhancement benefits.

Purpose of the Study:

To critically evaluate the established role of stretching in athletic performance enhancement.
To explore the neural influences on range of motion, particularly in the context of sport-specific skilled movements.
To investigate the limitations of focusing solely on tissue adaptations in stretching research.

Main Methods:

Related Experiment Videos

Review of existing cross-sectional studies on flexibility and sports performance.
Analysis of empirical data challenging the efficacy of stretching for performance enhancement.
Examination of research on neural control of range of motion.

Main Results:

Flexibility measures correlate with performance in some sports, but stretching's direct impact is debated.
Skepticism among athletes and coaches regarding stretching for performance is supported by growing evidence.
Neural influences on range of motion are less understood but potentially more relevant for skilled athletic movements.

Conclusions:

The universal prescription of stretching for enhancing sport performance requires re-evaluation.
Future research should prioritize understanding neural mechanisms influencing range of motion for athletic applications.
A shift from solely focusing on tissue adaptations to considering neural factors in flexibility training is warranted.