Actually Henry, everything I have read so far says exactly the
opposite: that there are many proposed benefits for stretching before
exercise, however not all have been substantiated (in particular the
relationship between stretching and injury prevention).
Although it seems to make sense, there doesn't seem to be conclusive
evidence around stating that stretching decreases the chance of having
an injury. Maybe you have stumbled across a couple of articles that
have been hidden from me (my class-mates, and my exercise physiology
lecturer).
To me it seems unethical (and impractical) to hold a RCT to
investigate the relationship. Unethical because the study would
essentially involve making some subjects stretch with their warm-up,
and others not, with the belief that half of them will come out with
an injury? How exactly are you going to phrase your consent form to
get people to agree??
And impractical as it is a commonly-held belief in the community that
stretching is effective for injury prevention. If you gathered
subjects for the trial and instructed half not to stretch, yet be just
as involved as those who did... they'll have the preconception that
they may incur an injury, and will only gradually involve themselves
in whatever activity you set. How would you control that??
** Very interesting, and very much against everything we have known
about stretching before exercise. Is the paper published on the
internet, and if not, where can I get hold of this paper. However, I
have a few questions:
** Is there any further research that will backup this claim the
pre-exercises stretching is not beneficial for injury prevention?? Was
the study specific in saying which muscles they stretched, how they
stretched them, whether they stretched for a certain time frame, and
whether they stretched after their exercises?? it seems to me that
1538 people is a large sample, and would be difficult to control these
factors, which are as important in injury prevention as simply doing
stretches.
>Henry***
>
>>From: "Linda K" <[log in to unmask]>
>>Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
>>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>Subject: pre-exercise stretching
>>Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 22:03:39 +0100
>>
>>in 1996 Pope R et al (proceedings of the 1996 National Physiotherapy
>>Congress p193 - A RCT to determine whether pre-exercise stretching
prevents
>>injury ) did an RCT with 1538 male Australian army recruits and
showed that
>>there were no benenfits of pre-exercise stretching in preventing
injury
>>(presumably this would also apply to the weight lifters and mm in
the
>>lumbopelvic region). Injury was more closely correlated with
aerobic
>>fitness.
>>Linda K
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Henry Tsao" <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>Sent: 09 October 2000 21:48
>>Subject: Re: TA & Stabilisation?
>>
>>
>> > Dr Siff and others,
>> >
>> > I was talking to friend who worked at the olympics as a
Physiotherapist
>>down
>> > in Sydney in the last 2 weeks, and briefly touched upon the issue
of low
>> > prevalance of back pain in weightlifters. He offered me a
different
>> > alternative on why back pain was limited in weightlifters:
>> >
>> > 1. They stretched their muscles always before they compete, hence
they
>>have
>> > length and strength in their muscles. This means that the TrA and
>>multifidus
>> > muscles will not be inhibited and can be used to stabilize the
lumbar
>>spine.
>> > This is in contrast to a worker who does not stretch at all
before heavy
>> > lifting, tightens muscles in the lumbopelvic region, which in
turn
>>inhibits
>> > the TrA and Multifidus muscles and hence are more prone to injury
as a
>> > result of reduced lumbar stability.
>> >
>> > 2. Most sport people will have physiotherapy, chiropractic and
other
>>therapy
>> > intervention during their training (I know for a fact that
Maurice
>>Green,
>> > the 100M champion has both Physiotherapy and chiropractors work
on him
>>4-5
>> > times a week. These will not only free up their joints, but also
help
>> > stretch their muscles. It is like having treatment regularly -
hence
>> > reducing the prevalence of back pain.
>> >
>> > 3. The diet that sports people are on usually is very beneficial
for
>> > healing. Diet is a big part of the human body. Therefore, even if
they
>>have
>> > an injury, they will heal a lot faster than compared to the
average
>>worker
>> > who strains their back.
>> >
>> > 4. Psychologically, it is known that if you are under a lot of
stress,
>>such
>> > as the stress of work, your muscles will tighten. Most sportman
(and I
>>mean
>> > most) are motivated and so focused in what they do that their
normal
>>pain
>> > threshold would be high, especially in weightlifters. They need
to block
>>out
>> > the aches and pains in their muscle and simply focus on what they
are
>>doing.
>> > I know as a soccer player I have had times where I would play a
game and
>>be
>> > so focused in the game, not realizing that my legs were bleeding
from a
>> > previous tackle until I slow down.
>> >
>> > We both agree that there is a lot of factors involved, and we can
not
>>simply
>> > pinpoint a single factor on why weightlifters and most sport
people
>>don't
>> > have back pain. However, it does show us that other factors such
as
>> > nutrition and psychology play a big part in the overall
presentation of
>>the
>> > human being.
>> >
>> > To answer some of the questions posed by Dr Siff:
>> >
>> > >5. Are TrA methods definitely superior to most other methods of
>>addressing
>> > >back pain?
>> > ***Definitely not, TrA, like any other Physiotherapy method, is
always
>>used
>> > in conjunction with other Physiotherapy techniques, and it is
always
>> > difficult to say which methods are the best simply because every
patient
>>is
>> > different. This is probably why Physiotherapy has lacked so much
>>evidence,
>> > because research is not easy to do, since we do not use a single
>>technique
>> > in our treatment(eg, it took Physiotherapists down in Sydney 6
months to
>> > examine the effectiveness of AP glides on the AC joint in the
shoulder).
>> >
>> >
>> > >6. How does one non-invasively check for TrA 'miseducation' or
>>'laziness'
>> > >during full ranges of dynamic or ballistic 'functional' movement
(such
>>as
>> > >running, lifting and jumping)?
>> > ***This is still to be shown, but the TrA theory offers us a way
of
>>thinking
>> > and an explanation to what is happening in the lumbar spine. With
>> > advancements in technology, I am sure they will soon be able to
check
>> > non-invasively TrA activation during functional movements.
>> >
>> > >7. Why do some cases of back pain, even among those with
apparently
>>'weak'
>> > >or 'lazy' TrA muscles, spontaneously resolve themselves without
>>repeatedly
>> > >recurring?
>> > ***Is there any research on the percentage of back pain patients
who
>>resolve
>> > spontaneously and NEVER get back pain again. It would have to be
a very
>> > extensive longitudinal study to show this, and would be a very
>>interesting
>> > topic of discussion.
>> >
>> > Henry***
>> >
>> >
>>____________________________________________________________________
_____
>> > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at
>>http://www.hotmail.com.
>> >
>> > Share information about yourself, create your own public profile
at
>> > http://profiles.msn.com.
>> >
>>
>
>_____________________________________________________________________
____
>Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at
http://www.hotmail.com.
>
>Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at
>http://profiles.msn.com.
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
----
>
this message was proudly brought to you by ...
luke harris of benzene - http://benzene.cjb.net/
prefer email sent to me at [log in to unmask]
__________________________________________________________________
Get your free Australian email account at http://www.start.com.au
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|