There is a lot of confusion on whether stretching has any real benefit but I personally believe it is of real benefit and I try to practice doing it before and after a run. I say try because even though I am a believer of stretching I would much rather be spending any extra time I have, "running" so sometimes I find myself skipping the stretching routines before my run. After, I'm usually in a hurry to get somewhere so I skip it or I just plain forget, but my goal is to include stretching as part of my daily training routine and try to accomplish both without fail.
I have not always been a believer in stretching and very seldom did any stretching at all until I received a hamstring injury during a race. It has been two years since my injury and I still have problems with it off and on. I didn't see any real improvement until I went to a sports medicine physician
and he prescribed about six weeks of massage and stretching therapy two times a week. During that time I became more flexible and the pain during a run gradually subsided. Before therapy, I wasn't able to run for more than a minute at a time so was forced into a walk/run routine. During therapy, I was able to gradually increase my run time and decrease my walk time, working my way back into a full non-stop run. I firmly believe that stretching and the gradual climb from a walk/run routine back into a full run is what instigated the improvement over my injury.
A lot of research either discounts these benefits or defers, falling back on the need for more research. So, until the researchers can prove without a shadow of a doubt that there is no benefit, and because of the improvements I have seen in myself, I'll be incorporating the stretching routines in my training schedule.
In a future article, I'll discuss the different types of stretching and the stretching routines I use.
Al
