Authors: Moreside J, Mcgill S.

Journal Of Strength & Conditioning Research (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins). October 2013;27(10):2635-2643.

Reviewed by Bruce Craven

STRETCH! In preparation for Sochi, many athletes were instructed by their coaches, strength and conditioning trainers and therapists to stretch. In this article by Moreside and McGill, the evidence for more stretching to improve range of motion at the hip was questioned as it relates to functional movement. The researchers analyzed the transference of increases in passive hip range of motion and core endurance to functional movements such as active standing hip extension, lunging, a standing twist/ reach maneuver and exercising on the elliptical trainer. The study involved 24 males with limited hip range of motion randomly assigned to 4 groups (group 1 a stretching only program; group 2 stretching plus hip/spine disassociation exercises; group 3 core endurance training and group 4 a control group). Following a 6 week training program there was a large increase in passive hip range of motion in both groups 1 and 2. Despite these large increases in hip passive range of motion from stretching, there was no change in the functional hip extension range during the functional exercises. Remember that there is a need to incorporate motor learning and strengthening of new ranges as a result of stretching into exercise technique and performance, as this article and others indicates that stretching alone does not transfer into range of motion during performance.