Acute Effects of Static and Ballistic Stretching on Measures of Strength and Power

Abstract

Preactivity stretching is commonly performed by athletes as part of their warm-up routine. However, the most recent literature questions the effectiveness of preactivity stretching. One limitation of this research is that the stretching duration is not realistic for most athletes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a practical duration of acute static and ballistic stretching on vertical jump (VJ), lower-extremity power, and quadriceps and hamstring torque. Twenty-four subjects performed a 5-minute warm-up followed by each of the following three conditions on separate days with order counterbalanced: static stretching, ballistic stretching, or no-stretch control condition. Vertical jump was determined with the Vertec VJ system and was also calculated from the ground-reaction forces collected from a Kistler force plate, which also were used to calculate power. Torque output of the quadriceps and hamstrings was measured through knee extension and flexion on the Biodex System 3 Dynamometer at 60 degrees x s(-1). Data normalized for body weight were analyzed using five separate, 3 (stretch condition) x 2 (gender) analysis-of-variance procedures with repeated measures on the factor of stretch condition. The gender x stretch interaction was not significant for any of the four measures, suggesting that the stretching conditions did not affect men and women differently. The results of this study reveal that static and ballistic stretching did not affect VJ, or torque output for the quadriceps and hamstrings. Despite no adverse effect on VJ, stretching did cause a decrease in lower-extremity power, which was surprising. Because of the mixed results, strength coaches would be better served to use dynamic stretching before activity; this has been consistently supported by the literature.

Effects of static stretching on quadriceps peak torque and hip Range of Motion in professional soccer players and sedentary subjects

“…The negative effects of SS on muscle force and muscle force production has previously been reported (1,3,4,6,(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)28). Our study showed that SS at 60 and 300 degrees per second did not affect the PT in the stretched extremity.…”

“…It is believed that stretching before exercises lowers the risk of injury and increases flexibility (2)(3)(4). An increase in flexibility (increasing the range of motion of joints) is expected to improve performance and lower the risk of injury during sports activities.…”

“…In recent systematic reviews and many original studies, the authors state that stretching before excercise temporarily decreases force production in the muscle (1,3,4,6,(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16). On the other hand, most studies do not show a negative effect of static stretching on strength performance (2,(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26).…”

Acute effects of muscle stretching on physical performance, range of motion, and injury incidence in healthy active individuals: a systematic review

“…Both Bacurau and colleagues (2009) and used 20 min of ballistic stretch activities and reported a 2.2% decrease in leg press 1-RM and a ϳ5%-7% decrease in knee flexion and extension 1-RMs, respectively (likely fatigue related). Other studies imposing shorter durations of ballistic stretching or bobbing actions at end ROM have reported no significant effects (Bradley et al 2007;Samuel et al 2008). Cumulatively, the data show a tendency toward an increase in performance with faster and/or more intense ballistic stretches, but substantial variability exists among studies and with regard to performances in different tests within studies, so a firm conclusion cannot be drawn.…”

“…Behm and Chaouachi (2011) reported a DS doseresponse effect in which greater overall peak force and power improvements were observed when >90 s (7.3% ± 5.3%) vs. <90 s (0.5% ± 2.3%) of DS was imposed immediately before testing. However, trivial ES or statistically nonsignificant performance changes were also elicited by both longer DS durations of 10 min (Needham et al 2009) and 15 min (Zourdos et al 2012) and by 180 repetitions , as well as by shorter durations, such as 45 s (Beedle et al 2008), 60 s (Samuel et al 2008), and 150 s (Amiri-Khorasani et al 2010), or 2 repetitions of 4 exercises (Dalrymple et al 2010). Hence, based on the variability among studies, it is difficult to demonstrate a dose-response relationship with DS.…”