Stretching Dynamic vs. Static Stretching

Stretching

Dynamic vs. Static Stretching -- Comparing and Contrasting the Pros and Cons

Everyone knows that athletes love debates. Who was the best hitter of all time? What is more of a test of athletic endurance -- swimming the English Channel or running an ultra-marathon? What is the best way to build up your triceps? But less physically obsessed people may be amused to hear that even stretching is an issue of controversy within the fitness community. Stretching, however, does facilitate a critical component of fitness, namely flexibility, which along with strength and endurance, are critical to performing not only feats of athletic prowess, but simply functioning in a healthy way during the normal acts of daily life. The debate about stretching usually revolves around the question of what is better -- the static or dynamic forms of stretching?

But first of all, what is flexibility, the fitness component stretching is supposed to enhance? "Flexibility is the range of motion possible around a specific joint or series of articulations. Flexibility is specific to a given joint or movement. A person may not be able to function normally if a joint lacks normal movement" ("Stretching and Flexibility," ExRx, 2007). While "dynamic stretching incorporates movements that mimic a specific sport or exercise in an exaggerated yet controlled manner; [and is] often include during the warm-up or in preparation for a sports event," the "static technique involves passively stretching a muscle to the point of mild discomfort by holding it in a maximal stretch for an extended period" ("Stretching and Flexibility," ExRx, 2007).

A good contrast between the two types of stretches might be seen in a runner preparing for a hard workout or a race. A runner engaged in dynamic stretching might do some chest-to-knee running, or exaggerated skipping, while a runner engaged in static stretching might lean up against a wall in a lunge, to stretch his quadriceps muscles and hamstrings. Dynamic also means motion, thus dynamic stretching may include arm swings, knee rotations, and neck circles, while static stretching is traditionally not performed with much of a range of motion, and certainly not fast motions (Campbell, 2007). Players in sports requiring pinpoint reflexes and reactions, like basketball players and soccer players, are often devout exponents of dynamic stretching.

Contrary to popular belief, stretching before a workout does not appear to decrease the occurrence of injury. The risk of injury seems to be about equal for those who stretch and those who do not stretch before exercise. The warm-up, not stretching, seems to be the important deterrent for injury, performed before an exercise bout. Stretching seems to offer more long-term benefit such as maintaining functional flexibility and correcting particular muscular imbalances" ("Stretching and Flexibility," ExRx, 2007) in other words, some physical fitness trainers state that the best warm-up of all is likely not to be stretching per se, but, for example, for a runner to take a light jog to prepare for running, ideally at a pace much slower than the actual workout.

This does not mean that most trainers believe an athlete should disregard stretching, but that any kind of stretching, both dynamic and static stretching, should be performed with the mindset of enhancing the physical fitness component of flexibility, not mainly as a warm-up. However, other trainers do believe that both dynamic and static stretching has a place within a physical fitness program, even before and after exercise and can be incorporated into a warm-up, provided the stretching also begins at a slow pace. Before a competition, dynamic stretching that emphasizes the muscles and skills used during the competition, like arm swings, hip rotations, knee rotations for a basketball player, or sprinting and skipping movements for a runner could aid in the pre-competition, pre-practice warm-up process by increasing the ability of the joints to flex quickly and increasing body temperature without tiring the athlete and release tension. Static stretching could be used as part of a warm-up for training (Campbell 2007). Static stretching is thought to more directly enhance the athlete's flexibility in the long run, but it is less useful in acting as an aid towards immediate performance or increasing the body temperature of the athlete.

The age and fitness goals of the athlete will also determine what method of stretching should be selected or emphasized. "Adults ages 21 to 45 with tight hamstrings also get the best results from static stretching with 30-second stretch-hold positions. Researchers report that static stretching is two times more effective than dynamic range of motion (DROM) for this group of non-competitive athletes" (Campbell 2007). The slower pace of static stretching may help the athletes focus on their problem areas before engaging in exertion, and it is less important that these athletes quickly engage in an athletic bout, as they are non-competitive. Furthermore, there may be less of a tendency to get injured, not during the athletic practice, but while stretching, in static stretching. It should be stressed that even dynamic stretching should be performed slowly. Once again one must keep in mind the advice that any type of warm-up, regardless of the athlete's level of physical fitness, should be eased into -- in other words, start with slow arm swings, if you are using dynamic stretching to perform to your maximum potential before a basketball game and gradually increase the intensity and speed.

However, researchers also have found "that athletes should not perform prolonged static stretching before the big game or a key practice session because this slows muscle activation for around an hour afterwards" because it presumably lengthens athletes' skeletal muscles (Campbell 2007). Although such lengthening is thought to be one of the benefits of static stretching in terms of the overall health of the athlete on one hand, much like lifting weights, although a useful fitness component, this muscle lengthening is not immediately a benefit before conducting an intense workout or engaging in competition. While lifting weights increases strength, an important part of athletic prowess, the tiredness that ensues immediately afterwards will not help during a competition. This is also true of the flexibility and muscle lengthening enhancement component of static stretching. Many athletes will use static stretching after a competition or even a strenuous workout as part of the 'recovery' process, and use dynamic stretching beforehand, as both a warm-up and also a way to sharpen the skills used during such efforts. Static strengthening with its beneficial muscle elongation may also be used to its maximum potential after a workout, rather than before, as the muscles are warmer.