The effects of preexercise stretching on muscular soreness, tenderness andforce loss following heavy eccentric exercise

The present study sought to investigate the effects of preexercise stretchi ng on delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), i.e. soreness, tenderness and l oss of muscle force, that usually occurs after strenuous or unaccustomed ec centric exercise. Ten female volunteers performed 10 sets of 10 maximal iso kinetic eccentric contractions for knee flexion with both legs after a 5-mi n ergometer cycling warm-up. Prior to the exercise for one leg, randomly ch osen, 4x20 s of static stretching for the hamstring muscle group was implem ented. Rated soreness, tenderness on algometer pressure and loss of maximal eccentric contractile force was evaluated preexercise and 24, 48 and 96 h postexercise. The exercise bout produced severe DOMS, with parameters peaki ng and troughing at 48 h postexercise. However, no significant differences were found, regarding any of the parameters, when comparing stretched and n onstretched legs. The present study thus suggests that preexercise static s tretching has no preventive effect on the muscular soreness, tenderness and force loss that follows heavy eccentric exercise.