The effects of static and dynamic stretching on sprint speed of the physically active

Context. Stretching has been widely accepted within the athletic population for decades. Static stretching was once dominant for a pre-activity warm-up. However, recent studies have shown that static stretching may lead to an increased risk of injury and also a decrease in performance. There have also been an increasing number of studies identifying the positive effects of dynamic stretching when compared to static stretching. Therefore, there has been a significant shift towards dynamic stretching as part of a pre-activity warm-up.;Objective. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of three different stretching protocols on the sprint performance of physically active individuals. These three stretching protocols include static stretching, dynamic stretching, and a combination of static and dynamic stretching.;Setting. The testing was done in the Hamer Gymnasium on the campus of California University of Pennsylvania.;Participants. Sixteen physically active individuals volunteered for this study (11 males, 5 females).;Interventions. Each subject completed each of the three stretching protocols on three separate days with 48 hours in between each testing session. Each subject then completed three trials of a 40 yard sprint.;Main outcome measures. A within subjects repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to analyze the data. The independent variable was the stretching protocol used, which had three levels (Static Stretching Warm-Up Protocol, Dynamic Stretching Warm-Up Protocol, and Combination of Static and Dynamic Stretching Warm-Up Protocol).;Results. The repeated measures ANOVA revealed there was a significant effect of warm-up on performance (F 2,30 = .03 p < .05). Follow-up post-hoc testing using protected dependent t tests was utilized. There was a significant difference between the Combination Stretching Protocol (5.575s +/- .496) and the Static Stretching Protocol (5.660s +/- .492).;Conclusion. According to the literature, it is beneficial to include dynamic stretching prior to physical activity, while static stretching should be avoided. However, the results of this study show that a combination of both static and dynamic stretching is most beneficial for physically active individuals.