Stretching vs mobility training — which matters more?

These target different things despite sounding similar. Stretching's evidence is specifically about flexibility and range of motion — robustly confirmed across many meta-analyses — but a well-known Cochrane review found it does NOT meaningfully reduce muscle soreness, contradicting a common reason people do it. Mobility training's evidence is more clinically targeted: meta-analyses support it for reducing falls and improving balance in older adults, restoring function in people with dementia or multiple sclerosis, and even a Cochrane review backing it for frozen shoulder specifically. If your goal is general flexibility, stretching has the more direct evidence. If your goal is maintaining functional movement and reducing fall risk as you age — a more consequential longevity outcome — mobility training's evidence is more targeted to that goal, even though its impact score here is only marginally higher.