Bazett-Jones DM, Gibson MH, McBride JM
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether 6 weeks of static hamstring stretching effects range of motion (ROM), sprint, and vertical jump performances in athletes. Twenty-one healthy division III women's track and field athletes were tested for bilateral knee ROM; 55-m sprint time; and vertical jump height before, at 3 weeks, and after the 6-week flexibility program. Subjects were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups and warmed up with a 10-minute jog on a track before a hamstring stretching protocol. The stretching protocol consisted of four repetitions held for 45 seconds, 4 days per week. Six weeks of a static hamstring stretching protocol did not improve knee ROM or sprint and vertical jump performances in women track and field athletes.
The use of static stretching should be restricted to post practice or competition because of the detrimental effects reported throughout the literature. Based on the current investigation, it does not seem that chronic static stretching has a positive or negative impact on athletic performance.
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2008, 22(1), 25-31