Does Stretching Before a Game Prevent Injury?

Does stretching before a game really prevent injury? If you’re watching the game on TV, definitely not. And if you’re playing the game, stretching also may do little to prevent injury. As this piece in the Boston Globe reports, a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed the limited number of studies about stretching that were available and concluded that ”stretching had no effect in reducing injuries." A separate paper in the March issue of The Physician and Sports Medicine noted that stretching may even slightly impair performance because, as with weight lifting, muscle force decreases slightly, by 2 to 5 percent, immediately after stretching. The Globe quotes Dr. Edward Phillips, director of outpatient medical services at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, advising us that after stretching serves us better if we do it after we exercise, not before. The story reports that Phillips makes a distinction between stretching and warming up. Instead of worrying about lengthening muscles at the beginning of a workout, he suggests jogging slightly or moving your limbs around to get your heart rate up a bit. The idea, he said, ”is to go through the motions you will do in your event or workout."