Researchers believe they have debunked a about the perceived of stretching before jogging. Hundreds of millions of joggers around the world perform stretching exercises before going for a jog. It is a daily that can be seen in parks and streets . However, researchers from La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia say there is no to show that stretching improves running performance or decreases the of injuries. Their research is published in the 'British Journal of Sports Medicine'. They say that while there is evidence that stretching can help keep , knee and hip joints , it won't aid performance or keep injuries at .
Lead James Alexander conducted the research after with runners about stretching. Mr Alexander is an jogger and often wondered what the of stretching were. He told the Reuters news agency that: "Runners have certain around running injury risks, injury prevention and performance that are in contrast to research evidence." He added: "These beliefs drive runners to continue to pursue ineffective or non-optimal within their running training, whether through static stretching for injury or low-load strength training for performance." He recommended a 5-10-minute of walking or light jogging as the best .
