A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 on the effects of stretching on the development of delayed-onset muscle soreness included 12 studies with a total of 2 597 healthy adult subjects. All but two of the studies were carried out in laboratory settings and involved standardised exercise. Three studies examined the effect of stretching before exercise, 7 studies investigated the effects of stretching after exercise, 1 study investigated the effects of stretching before exercise in one intervention group and after exercise in another intervention group, and 1 study investigated effects of stretching before and after exercise in the same intervention group. Stretching was applied to different muscle groups (knee extensors: 4 studies; hamstring muscles: 3 studies; ankle plantarflexors: 1 study; wrist extensors: 1 study; elbow flexors: 2 studies; lower limb and trunk muscles: 2 studies). The duration of stretching applied in a single session ranged from 40 seconds to 900 seconds. There was a high degree of consistency of results across studies. The pooled estimate showed that pre-exercise stretching reduced soreness at one day after exercise by, on average, half a point on a 100-point scale (mean difference -0.52, 95% CI -11.30 to 10.26; 3 studies). Post-exercise stretching reduced soreness at one day after exercise by, on average, one point on a 100-point scale (mean difference -1.04, 95% CI -6.88 to 4.79; 4 studies). Similar effects were evident between half a day and three days after exercise. One large study showed that stretching before and after exercise reduced peak soreness over a one week period by, on average, four points on a 100-point scale (mean difference -3.80, 95% CI -5.17 to -2.43). This effect, though statistically significant, is very small.
Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by a number of limitations in study quality and byimprecise results (limited study size for each comparison).
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