A new review shows that pre and post exercise stretching does little to reduce muscle soreness and injury.
If you do gym routines or exercise classes you'll be well used to doing special stretches before and after the session to prepare your muscles. It's always assumed that this will prevent soreness the following day and reduce the risk of injury like a muscle strain.

So it's surprising to learn from researchers at the University of Sydney that such stretching exercises are of little benefit. They reviewed five studies, covering 77 participants. Three studies looked at the effect of post-exercise stretching, while the other two evaluated stretching before starting exercise.

The researchers concluded that stretching does not, after all, prevent injury or soreness. Further research is needed to determine what would be more beneficial. Meanwhile, the findings suggest that much of what we think we know about sport and exercise may not be on a firm scientific foundation. But, say the researchers, this is changing - in the future, we can expect far more hard information on the benefits of physical activity.