Has this age old question finally been answered............

Does stretching before running prevent injuries?  Now there's a contentious issue if ever there was one!

Personally I don't enjoy stretching and yet I love yoga?  A contradiction right?  Well not really.  You see a study published in August -  the foundation for this article in the New York Times has found that static stretching [a stretch held for up to 20 seconds] "before a workout not only does not prevent overuse injuries but also may actually hinder athletic performance".

The hindering of performance can be explained thus "“There is a very important neurological effect of stretching,” said Ross Tucker, Ph.D., a physiologist in South Africa and co-author of the Web site The Science of Sport. “There is a reflex that prevents the muscle from being stretching too much,” which is activated by static stretching, inducing the muscle to become, in effect, tighter in self-protection. Past studies have found that athletes’ vertical jump is lower after a bout of static stretching than with no stretching at all. They can’t generate as much power.

So, my thinking goes that doing a dedicated stretching session or yoga class, which requires no athletic performance afterwards, will increase flexibility, tone muscles and aid recovery. 

Simply put -  it feels great!

Photo courtesy of:  Creative Commons Flickr - lululemon athletica