It seems like forever that stretching has served as an integral part of any serious athlete’s warmup–or, sometimes, warmdown–exercise routine.
Go to most professional sporting events events a couple of hours before the competition and you will see the most graceful of pros contorted into positions that would likely make a Kama Sutra teacher blush with ecstasy.
Taking their cue from the pros, most weekend warriors also take their stretching seriously.
Part of the perfect warmup, right? Well, maybe not.
Fact is, stretching faces a bit of a backlash.
There is much debate about its merits, its dangers and just what it can do for you.
In a study carried out by researchers at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil and co-authored by Dr. Brian MacIntosh of the University of Calgary’s Human Performance Laboratory, suggests that stretching isn’t all that it’s cracked to be in increasing speed and reducing soreness.
Dr. MacIntosh, a professor at the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary, spoke by phone with RCI’s Terry Haig.
Listen
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.