Stretching

Research summary

• Meta-analyses consistently and robustly confirm that both acute and chronic stretching improve range of motion and flexibility, with recent meta-regressions clarifying optimal dosing and the underlying neuromuscular and mechanical mechanisms.
• However, a well-known Cochrane review found that stretching before or after exercise does not meaningfully reduce delayed-onset muscle soreness — directly contradicting a common assumption about why people stretch.
• Evidence for stretching preventing sports injuries is mixed within broader exercise-intervention meta-analyses, and chronic stretching may modestly improve balance performance per a 2025 meta-analysis.
• Overall, stretching's evidence is strong and consistent for its most direct, expected outcome (flexibility) and notably weaker for the soreness-reduction and injury-prevention benefits often assumed to come with it.