Since I have mentioned that cyclists should stretch in the article about back pain while riding, I think it’s time to talk about stretching for runners. It’s been a highly contentious subject, but I got a sense from the internet that YES is currently the official answer, although there are some ‘buts’ to it.
Let’s start with the only article I have found that started with a NO. It was from ABC News and started with a story of a lady who used to stretch before running and get injured frequently. As I kept reading along, I realized that it actually echoes information I have read elsewhere, just coming from the negative side.
The point that all sides converge at is that there are different types of stretches and whether they are a good idea is when you do them. The first type of stretching is static. That’s the one where you stretch out a muscle and hold a position. There are dynamic stretches, where you repeat the movements without holding. Some of us (at the risk of dating myself) have been told in the past that dynamic stretching is bad and can cause tears in your muscle. This has been disproved since, provided that you don’t do them so hard that you are causing yourself pain (to be fair: whatever you are doing, if you are causing actual pain, you are probably doing too much/going too hard).
In all the articles I have read, they have discouraged doing static stretching before running. And that’s where ABC News story was coming from – person who was doing static stretches before running. Further research into the subject told me that the biggest problem coming from static stretching before running came from decreased performance. Explanations included tiring out muscle; inhibiting nerve contraction, which leads to lower speed; and worse run economy. Further studies have shown that the decreased running economy impacted only untrained runners, but isn’t majority of us here amateurs? Having already said all these bad things about static stretching, I feel a need to mention that it’s not all bad. It’s just not for before going for a run. In the long run, it will help with your range of motion and some common aches and pains. Also: I dare you not to do any stretching after a marathon. Actually, please don’t. It’s a figure of speech. Have you seen people wobbling around bent in not-so-natural poses after long runs? Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. Static stretching is meant to alleviate those problem.
Dynamic stretching, on the other hand, is exactly what you need before heading out for a run. One of the benefits is that it gets your blood going, so you can start at a higher level than if you were to start immediately. It improves your range of motion and increase your performance and power. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I have read now to do high knees and butt kicks before heading out for a run!
Conclusion: you need to stretch. You just need to choose the right stretches for the right time. Videos on the subject coming soon!