Are you stretching the right way?

Warm up!
One thing that is known for certain is that stretching and warming up are two separate activities, and that you should not stretch before you've done a warm-up -- when your muscles are cold.

“Before starting a workout or sport, it's important to warm up for about 10 minutes,” says Tinkham. “However, the more intense the workout, the longer the warm-up should be. How you warm up depends on the activity you're planning to do. For a sport that includes running, warm up with a light jog; for a racquet sport, do some easy hitting; and before a gym workout, do any cardio activity,” he says.

“Ideally we should warm up, then lightly stretch the appropriate muscles for the activity (for instance, leg stretches for running sports), do the activity, warm down, then stretch more to help with
injury prevention.”

Injury prevention
Certain activities tend to tighten muscles more than other activities, and running -- whether it's done as a sport on its own or is an aspect of other sports, such as soccer or baseball -- is probably the worst. “That's because running is repetitive and can be hard on weight-bearing joints,” says Tinkham, 43, who has competed in five world championships in competitive cross-country running.

Stretching after running -- even if you're running in short spurts -- is very important for injury prevention, he says.

“Some specific injuries, such as runner's knee, which is an overuse injury resulting in pain in or around the front of the kneecap, can be caused by lack of flexibility, not enough strength or both. And some people have certain muscles that they need to stretch prior to an activity or they won't make it through their run or soccer game without some pain or an injury; for instance, if they have an old hamstring injury.”

How to Stretch
To stretch properly, move slowly and smoothly and don't hold your breath (breathing deeply and evenly helps increase a stretch). “Know your own limits and let your body be your guide,” says Janna Wentzell, a certified exercise physiologist, kinesiologist and an anatomy instructor in the school of recreation management and kinesiology at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S. “Stretching shouldn't be painful or cause any soreness. If you feel any pain, stop.”

Wentzell, 35, runs five to 10 kilometres outdoors, four or five times a week when the weather is nice. Her warm-up consists of jogging slowly for a few minutes until she no longer feels stiff. If at that point she still feels stiff or tight, she does a four-minute series of stretches targeting her quadriceps, hamstrings, hips and lower back (she holds each stretch from 10 to 30 seconds and does it twice on each side). She then heads off on a 40-minute run, followed by a cooldown of slower running and a repeat of some of the prerun stretches with an added calf stretch.

“As children we're very flexible,” says Wentzell. “As we age, if we don't use it, we lose it. Flexibility is something you have to work at on a regular basis.” Though she doesn't always stretch before a run, she always stretches after. “Given that our flexibility decreases as we age, there is always a place for stretching.”

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