Originally Posted by
ridelikeaturtle
For those who swear by stretching: if the science shows stretching to not be effective, is there anything that would convince you otherwise? Or does the "it works for me" position overcome any and all forms of empirical evidence?
Consider the dog that barks at the postman. The postman goes away. What caused the postman to go away?
A: the barking. After all, it worked!
B: the postman was always going to leave, that's his route; the barking is irrelevant.
To the dog, the answer is A.
You're aware that the NCBI link you posted seems to contradict your position?
SUMMARYThe benefits of stretching seem to be individual to the population studied. Several factors must be considered when making clinical recommendations from the literature. To increase ROM, all types of stretching are effective, although PNF-type stretching may be more effective for immediate gains. To avoid decrease in strength and performance that may occur in athletes due to static stretching before competition or activity, dynamic stretching is recommended for warm-up. Older adults over 65 years old should incorporate static stretching into an exercise regimen. A variety of orthopedic patients can benefit from both static and pre-contraction stretching, although patients with joint contractures do not appear to benefit from stretching.
Anyway, I don't need "the science" to prove anything. If I am riding singletrack and my lower back starts hurting, I stand on the pedals to stretch my calves and the pain subsides for a time. Your position is that there is an article I can read or a chart I can look at that will prove my back is still hurting?