Stretching Exercises to Prevent Injuries in Female Athletes

Female athletes in all sports require various degrees of mobility to perform specific skills, such as running, pitching and kicking. Stretching has been indoctrinated into most sports training and conditioning as a way to warm up and to prevent injuries. However, current research shows plenty of evidence supporting the notion that stretching doesn't prevent injuries in athletes.

  1. What Stretching Does

    • Traditional stretching -- also known as static stretching -- involves holding a muscle stretch for 20 to 30 seconds. When you stretch a muscle, sensors called muscle golgi tendon organs in the tendons are activated, which cause the muscle fibers to lengthen and to enhance relaxation. This decreases neural activity in your muscles, which makes them less physically and neurologically prepared to perform the upcoming sport or activity. In a 2013 study published in "Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports," subjects had a 5.4 percent reduction in leg strength and 2 percent reduction in power after performing static stretching in their leg muscles.

    Injury Prevention?

    • Stretching does not prevent injuries as most people believe. A 2005 review published in "Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine" evaluated articles published in various science databases on stretching, flexibility, injuries and injury prevention and found very little evidence supporting the claim that traditional stretching reduces the risk of injuries. In another study published in "British Medical Journal," 1,055 female soccer players who performed the FIFA 11+ program, which is a 20-minute warm-up regimen specifically for soccer with no static stretching, had a significantly lower rate of lower-body injuries than the control group -- consisting of 837 female soccer players -- who performed "the usual warm-up." Among the athletes who performed the FIFA 11+ warm-ups, those who complied to the program more often throughout the training season had a 35 percent reduction in injury risks than the athletes in the same group who had less compliance to the program, according to the "British Journal of Sports Medicine."

    Movement Matters

    • Dynamic stretching is a better option to warm up rather than doing static stretching. It involves moving your joints and muscles together within their range of motion repetitively, often mimicking a specific sports skill, such as kicking, turning and bounding. Although there is limited evidence supporting dynamic stretching as a means to reduce the risk of injuries in female athletes, there is evidence suggesting that dynamic stretching can improve athletic performance, which can help athletes prevent injuries. For example, subjects who performed dynamic stretching on their legs had greater power output and muscle and neural activities than those who performed static stretching, according to study published in "Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research." Therefore, movement is one factor that contributes to your risk of injury.

    Get Specific

    • Stretching exercises shouldn't be treated as a cookie-cutter method for all athletes because different sports and activities demand specific movements to perform. This is based on the SAID principle -- specific adaptation to imposed demands -- which states that your body will adapt and get better specifically at what you train it to do. For example, female volleyball players should practice vertical jumping, lunging, ball setting and overhead spiking as warm-ups prior to practice and competition. Likewise, martial artists and gymnasts should perform leg and hip swings to warm up their lower body and activate their core. Work with a qualified strength coach or fitness professional to help you customize your own warm-ups for your specific goals.