Passive Stretching the Archaic Practice

Passive Stretch: an exercise that moves a joint or limb beyond its active range of motion. In other words, using an external force to put your body into a position that it could not achieve on its own.

For decades, we’ve been told that it:

• prevents injury
• alleviates back pain and other muscle pain
• increases performance
• reduces post-workout muscle soreness
• is the only way to improve flexibility and range of motion
• should be used in a warm up or a cool down

But these are all myths. There is NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE to support any of the above claims.

The real truth is that it:

• leads to injury
• only temporarily alleviates back and muscle pain, but ultimately increases dysfunction
• increases weakness and instability, compromising performance
• exasperates micro-traumas in muscle tissue, which is masked by the release of endorphins
• is the least desirable way to improve flexibility and range of motion
• should never be used anywhere in a workout program or routine (including warm up and cool down)

This may be new information to some of you. But remember, passive stretching does not equal flexibility. There is another way to improve flexibility!

“These statements may be contrary to what many athletes and coaches believe and what is common practice, write experts. Yet much of sport and exercise medicine and the management of musculoskeletal injury has developed empirically with little research evidence. The culture is changing, and continued study makes valuable contributions to the debate on stretching.”