Last Updated: 2002-08-30 10:02:33 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Keith Mulvihill

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Stretching before sports has long been touted by well-meaning gym teachers and coaches as a way to guard against muscle soreness and injury. But two Australian researchers say that there is no scientific proof that bending to and fro before physical activity does any good.

"We found clear evidence that stretching before or after exercise does not prevent muscle soreness after exercise," lead author Rob D. Herbert of the University of Sidney said in an interview with Reuters Health.

"There is also quite strong evidence that stretching does not reduce injury risk--although the generality of this finding is unclear," he added.

In the study, Herbert and co-author Michael Gabriel reviewed all English-language studies published between 1966 and 2000 that investigated the effects of stretching before and after exercise on muscle soreness, risk of injury and athletic performance.

The team found five such studies that used control groups in their protocol, for a combined total of 77 individuals, according to the report in the August 31st issue of the British Medical Journal.

The benefit of stretching identified by their investigation was "too small to make stretching to prevent later muscle soreness worth while," Herbert and Gabriel write.

"By pooling the data from five studies we have shown with quite a high degree of certainty that stretching does not decrease soreness," Herbert told Reuters Health.

"If stretching before exercise is a hassle for you, don't bother," he added.

Herbert and Gabriel conclude that it might be interesting if, in the future, sports medicine experts study athletes who practice prolonged stretching over many months or years to see if there is a meaningful reduction in injury risk.

Commenting on the study in an accompanying editorial, Dr. Domhnall MacAuley of The Queen's University of Belfast in the UK and Dr. Thomas M. Best of the University of Wisconsin in Madison write: "Herbert and Gabriel make a valuable contribution to the debate on stretching.

"These findings are contrary to what many athletes and coaches believe and what is common practice," they add. "On the other hand, these findings may not be too surprising if we consider the complex mechanical properties of biological soft tissue and their response to cyclic loading.

"It may also be that research evidence is incorrect and that there is some, as yet unproved benefit," MacAuley and Best conclude.

SOURCE: British Medical Journal 2002;325:451-452, 468-470.

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