Abstract
It is generally accepted that increasing the flexibility of a muscletendon
unit allows a better performance and decreases the number
of injuries. Stretching isregularly included in warm-up and in cooling-down
exercises. However, contradictory findings have been
reported in the literature. Since 1980, several authors have suggested
that stretching has a beneficial effect on injury prevention.
In contrast, since 1990, clinical evidence suggests that stretching
not only does not prevent injuries, but can also decrease the level of
performance. Some part of these contradictions can be explained
by the various sports activities and the eclectic group of athletes
studied. Sports activities requesting an increased flexibility, such
as gymnastic, dancing, ice skating or diving, necessitate pre-exercise
stretching to optimize the level of performance. In contrary,
for sports with slow stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) such as jogging
or cycling, there is no scientific data showing a positive effect of
stretching on performance, injury prevention and recovery.
On the basis of the literature this article reviews the interest of the
pre- and post-exercise stretching on the different modalities such
as range of motion improvement, injury prevention and capacity
of recovery