The effect of passive stretching on delayed onset muscle soreness, and other detrimental effects following eccentric exercise
PainSci summary of Lund 1998?This page is one of thousands in the PainScience.com bibliography. It is not a general article: it is focused on a single scientific paper, and it may provide only just enough context for the summary to make sense. Links to other papers and more general information are provided at the bottom of the page, as often as possible. ★★☆☆☆?2-star ratings are for studies with flaws, bias, and/or conflict of interest; published in lesser journals. Ratings are a highly subjective opinion, and subject to revision at any time. If you think this paper has been incorrectly rated, please let me know.
From the abstract: “There was no difference in the reported variables between experiments one and two. It is concluded that passive stretching did not have any significant influence on increased plasma-CK, muscle pain, muscle strength and the PCr/P(i) ratio, indicating that passive stretching after eccentric exercise cannot prevent secondary pathological alterations.”
original abstract†Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
The aim of this study was to measure if passive stretching would influence delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), dynamic muscle strength, plasma creatine kinase concentration (CK) and the ratio of phosphocreatine to inorganic phosphate (PCr/Pi) following eccentric exercise. Seven healthy untrained women, 28-46 years old, performed eccentric exercise with the right m. quadriceps in an isokinetic dynamometer (Biodex, angle velocity: 60°.s-1) until exhaustion, in two different experiments, with an interval of 13-23 months. In both experiments the PCr/Pi ratio, dynamic muscle strength, CK and muscle pain were measured before the eccentric exercise (day 0) and the following 7 d. In the second experiment daily passive stretching (3 times of 30 s duration, with a pause of 30 s in between) of m. quadriceps was included in the protocol. The stretching was performed before and immediately after the eccentric exercise at day 0, and before measurements of the dependent variables daily for the following 7 d. The eccentric exercise alone led to significant decreases in PCr/Pi ratio (P<0.001) and muscle strength (P<0.001), and an increase in CK concentration (P<0.01). All subjects reported pain in the right m. quadriceps with a peak 48 h after exercise. There was no difference in the reported variables between experiments one and two. It is concluded that passive stretching did not have any significant influence on increased plasma-CK, muscle pain, muscle strength and the PCr/Pi ratio, indicating that passive stretching after eccentric exercise cannot prevent secondary pathological alterations.
related content
Specifically regarding Lund 1998:
- “Stretching to prevent or reduce muscle soreness after exercise,” an article in Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2011.
These two articles on PainScience.com cite Lund 1998 as a source:
- PS Quite a Stretch — Stretching science has shown that this extremely popular form of exercise has almost no measurable benefits
- PS Post-Exercise, Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness — The biology & treatment of “muscle fever,” the deep muscle soreness that surges 24-48 hours after an unfamiliar workout intensity
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- Association of Spinal Manipulative Therapy With Clinical Benefit and Harm for Acute Low Back Pain: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Paige 2017 JAMA.