Stretching & Muscle Strength

Apparently there is research suggesting that stretching can sap muscle strength. This is the first I have heard of it. That said, a recent study has found otherwise.
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This from Reuters:

While some research has raised the question of whether pre-workout stretching hinders muscle performance, a new study suggests that a few minutes of stretching may not sap the average exerciser's muscle strength.

Stretching is part of many active people's pre-exercise routine. But some recent studies have been pointing to potentially negative effects on athletic performance.

In some studies, though not all, stretching right before a workout has been found to decrease both sprint speed and jump height. There's also evidence that stretching temporarily reduces muscle strength.

However, one question has been whether such effects would be seen after the short bouts of stretching that a typical exerciser or weekend athlete might perform.

The new study, published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, looked at just such a "practical" stretching regimen.

Researchers measured calf-muscle strength in 13 moderately active men and women under four different conditions: after no stretching, and before and after 2, 4 or 8 minutes of calf-muscle stretching.

They found that stretching did not diminish the participants' muscle strength compared with the no-stretching condition. It did, however, temporarily improve the range of motion in the ankle joint.

The findings suggest that "a few minutes of static stretching of the calf muscles before exercise is unlikely to diminish muscle strength," senior researcher Dr. Joel T. Cramer, of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, told Reuters Health.

Past studies, he noted, have shown that longer, less practical stretching regimens may in fact dampen calf muscle strength for a short time. "However," Cramer said, "most exercisers do not continuously stretch their calves for 10, 20 or 30 minutes." . . .

. . . None of this means that stretching is not useful to active people. As demonstrated in the current study, stretching can improve joint range of motion in the short term. And some studies suggest that over the long term, a regular stretching regimen can help build muscle strength.

Read the entire article.

Having spent a lifetime exercising and taking part in sports where stretching was an absolute necessity to protect one's muscles, I am convinced that, even if stretching causes a small loss in strength, of which I am not convinced, it still protects significantly against muscle pulls and related injuries injuries. I have learned the hard way that going from 0 to max with no stretching holds bad things in store.