Warming up before static passive stretching (sps)

I got something juicy for you guys to sink your teeth into

I found this study on pubmed: (Pubmed is the "National library of medicine" online, with results from various studies)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=3728784

According to this study, warming up did not produce better results for stretching then did not warming up. The study does not mention injury rate, but if it had been higher, it would have imo warranted at least a mention. What do you think?
Are the days of warming up before sps over? Admittedly, the study is from 1986, but I did not find a study to indicate any different.

 

Guess what? I have a link for you!

This information is a bit more current ....

Myths and Truths of Stretching...Individualized Recommendations for Healthy Muscles

Warning up is to prevent injury

 

I was in the first coaching course that Cycling Australia did that taught that static stretching prior to warmup could actually increase injury rate. This was from a study conducted by Angie Calder from the Australian Institute Of Sport (AIS); this is the government organisation that trains most of our athletes. In 2000 I did a level two course. This was much more intensive and we had a number of presenters from the AIS. One of these presenters was the Head Physiotherapist for the Womens Cycling Team, so I questioned her more on the issue of stretching. They still recommend not doing static stretching as part of the warmup process. Dynamic and PNF are OK. What their recommendations are is it to use warm up time for sport specific exercise and movement, and have stretching sessions as a stand-alone dedicated session. The Australian Soccer team stopped stretching during warm up in 1989 and replaced it with foot drills and such, they still stretched, but not at warm up. This resulted in average increase in hip flexibility of around 50% and reduced injury rates of 70% (these figures are from memory). Given the success of the AIS in training our athletes I have a great deal of confidence in their recommendations.

 

I read that thing, and its true what you say, warming up prevents injury. It does NOT say that warming up prevents injuries during stretching. Heres a quote:

"The problem is that most people interpret it to mean that stretching before exercise prevents injuries, even though the clinical and basic science research suggests otherwise (7,8). A more precise interpretation is that warm-up prevents injury (46-49), whereas stretching has no effect on injury (7,8)."

Also, I just want to mention that I'm just "playing the other side", I'm not going to start stretching without warming up with just one study. But that link doesnt cover the subject of if you should warm up before stretching, just that you should warm up before doing sports, and not stretch before doing sports.


EDIT: Read Linz's post. The topic is not wether or not to stretch before exercise, but wether or not to warm up for dedicated stretching sessions.

 

Pavel Tsatsouline in Super Joints suggests that it is not necessary to warm up before Ismoetric stretching. The tensions performed during Isometrics draw in enough blood anyway.

I quote:

"an isometric contraction held for up to a minute indeed brings in a pool of relaxing blood into the muscle. You do not need to do any special warm-ups"
​

 

Thats in interesting point wynnema, I wonder if the same applies to passive non-isometric contraction stretches, because traditionally you do a static stretch - isometric contraction - static stretch, so for the first stretch, there would be no contraction at all.

 

There is no need to "stretch" prior to most activities. There is a need to lube the joints and increase blood flow to feed muscles. A well-designed warmup will also stimulate the nervous system to be primed for the activity at hand.

Any passive or static stretching is best performed after the activity, while cooling down.

 

I think you missed their point Clubbell.... But you're right about warming up before exercise and streching after.

 

Yes, clubbell, were not discussing what to do before exercise, but the value of warming up before stretching only.

 

Well...

I can think of only a few topics more debated in the field of exercise science other than stretching.

Well, stretching and stretching. If we are talking about martial arts here, then the issue of stretching is an important one - at least for those of us who (try to ) kick high. But what is stretching? And what kind of stretching does a martial artist need?

This is where I think some folks go wrong. Of course we need to increase our range of motion as beginners, and that requires static stretching. However, after a desired level of ROM has been attained (from weeks to years, depending), the importance of static stretching diminishes for most, especially the importance of static stretching prior to exercise.

Warm-ups ARE stretching, they are or at least can be a form of dynamic stretching. Ever see the Northern Kung Fu players (and via that, the Wushu athletes) do preliminary exercises (Ji Ben Gong) where the body is straight and they kick high (only the lower body moves; not very powerful kicks necessarily, but that's not the point, either)?
Most beginners couldn't perform those without some degree of risk of injury if they had not been stretching statically before them, but most advanced students can do them with little or no prior static stretching or even any other type of warm-ups.

To me, this question is pretty clear. First you have to see the requirements of the activity and the abilities of the athlete in relation to those, and then you must decide on what road to travel to achieve the goals.

In closing D), a martial artist rarely needs the ability to hold his leg straight up for several seconds (static), but he does need, if he is a kicker, the ability to kick high fast (dynamic). These two are connected, but usually very loosely.

Cheers

Mika

 

Addition

I guess it didn't come across too clearly there: the importance of warming up before any type of stretching depends very much on the ROM of the person. Advanced students may or may not need to do so (most do, either out of habit or as a psychological phase to ready themselves for the up-coming session), but people with very limited ROMs very clearly can benefit from it.

Now, I would add that the type of warming up is of utmost importance. If one's goal is to stretch the hamstrings, and the only warm-up before that is running, it probably doesn't help much. It might. But if various kinds of activities that involve dynamic stretching are incorporated, then the static stretching becomes more effective. I have clients with whom I witness this on a daily basis.

My question is this: how do you separate warm-ups from dynamic stretching?

(I actually think that answering that - or really, realizing the line is blurry and the question cannot be answered with a mathematical precision - opens up a new view, but only, of course, if dynamic stretching is considered as "stretching". It should.).

Mika

 

After warming up, a person can usually stretch further then before warming up. However, according to another study, that is only because of the pain tolerance is higher, and therefore the uncomfortable zone is slightly further away.

That did not effect the outcome of the stretching according to the study in question, where both the warmup group and the non-warmup group gained an equal amount of ROM increase from their stretching.

Also, we are talking about static-passive stretching, not statid active stretching.

The people participating in the study were also probably not well trained athletes, so your saying that if its not needed for them, its super not needed for advanced athletes?

Also, topic at hand is not if you should stretch, how much you should stretch, dynamic vs static or if you should stretch before exercise. Like I said before, I'm trying to get your thoughts on wether or not to warm up before doind dedicated stretching sessions (only stretching)

 

I would say that although not necessary, it is wise to warm up before a stretching routine. Remember we are discussing a stretching session as a seperate workout, carried out purely with the intention of improving flexiblity. This is usually going to be different to any warm up for your chosen sport or other athletic activity because you are perparing the body for a different task.

Warming up before stretching will allow individuals, particualrly those fairly new to stretching, to work more on increasing their ROM. If you take into account the fact that we only want to spend a certain amount of time per session on improving flexibility then it is better to use that time efficiently, to ensure the best possible gains. If you stretch cold, you will have to spend a longer time getting to your current ROM. If you spend five minutes doing a quick warm up, such as skipping rope then you will reach your ROM quicker and hence the time you spend stretching will be utlisied close to your maximum ROM.

It is entirely subjective however, although those interested in warming up first would be best spending their time doing some joint rotations and then light dynamic leg raises.

 

Just what I was going to post I used this article in my second year dissertation.

 

Right. And in my opening statement D) I referred to the very undecided nature of this phenomenon. Research on stretching shows just about anything you want it to show. Personally, this is one of the very few issues where I trust athletes and my own experiences as well as the experiences of my clients. There is absolutely no room for misinterpretation there - IF the person has a limited ROM.

I know. Didn't mean to hijack or OT your thread, just trying to offer another POV.

I am not saying anything...:Angel:

(OK, but don't quote me on it - and it depends on the goals and the person, of course)

And I tried to answer that, but you must remember the research is very wild on this. There is no agreement among the experts, not really.

Cheers

Mika

 

I tried to find a conflicting study after finding this one, but my resources are limited to only this one site.

Also, why is it that people with a limited rom can very clearly benefit from warming up before stretching? The rom increase they receive is the same, warm up or not, according to said study.

 

Rom

My applied experience would tell me that in all reality (and right now I am thinking about a couple of my clients, this may or may not apply to other people) they are just plain stiff due to lack of any type of stretching outside of what we do together (I do give them homework, but... ).

So, once those shortened fibers are being stretched with (just about any, in some cases) certain warm-up exercises, they will respond much better to actual stretching.

Now, if you take an advanced martial arts (kicking) student, he doesn't need it, nor should he need it. There is no warm-up period in a street brawl...

 

Another thought

Although BB type of workout is great for correcting muscle imbalances or for therapy, it is very unnatural (OK, making a joke with a small point, OK? )

What I mean is that the body functions more or less (yes, very arguable, but please allow me ) in one piece. Thus, one muscle group can help or hinder the actions of another muscle group.

For instance, three clients I can think of now have very stiff and sore calf muscles. This prevents them from effectively stretching their back in certain stretches unless we stretch the calf muscles first. If we do, they do much better with all back stretches.

This might in part answer your question. These studies are, btw, often done with many limitations - as scientific studies should, as well. But thus they cannot answer very many questions, nor do they usually even try. That's science, piece by piece.
But they usually leave more questions than answers behind them. And once again, that is the purpose, sort of.

I know you have some thoughts on this too. I have been to MAP enough times to remember you and posts about exercise. You ain't no newbie to this field, so please let us hear them!

Cheers

Mika

 

Usually when I read something like this, I experiment. I usually try out everything I read so now I'm stretching daily with no warmup. That said, I do have some thoughts on the matter.

I think its a valid study and that a warmup might not increase the rom increase gained during stretching. Stretching is not an impact activity, there are no sudden movements and no stress on the joints and ligaments except that one is in the uncomfortable zone. I also think that if one was stretching beyond that zone that it could then start to cause troubles.

But I see no reason why it shouldnt be valid, so I'm gonna try it out.

 

The body has been described as a bag of electric jelly with hundreds of insertion points. You are quite correct in saying that the body acts as one piece. Symptoms like limited ROM or even pain in one area resulting from tightness in another are a direct result of the way the fascia connecting everything retranslates tension throughout our bodies.

The causes and locations of excess tension may vary even when the symptoms are similar. Therefore it is safe to say that an effective program for one person to improve their mobility and ROM may not be appropriate for another person trying to reach the same goals.

In most cases, ROM is limited by excess muscle tension and by one's level of strength in that ROM. The speed of your movements can also limit your ROM. This is because the little proprioceptors like your golgi tendon organs and others are told to limit your ROM when you are in danger of exceeding limits perceived as "safe" by your central nervous system.

Warming up before stretching makes it easier for some people's muscles to release tension in static passive stretches. Dynamic and PNF stretches enable the tension to be released somewhat differently, and are equally efficient with or without a warmup beforehand. If a person does static passive stretching after activity or after dynamic stretching, no further warmup is required.