Stretching or Yoga?

New evidence is in the public domain that stretching before running doesn't make a huge amount of difference to the risk of injury!

Dr Daniel Pereles, from George Washington University found that stretching did not have any effect on injury rates among runners. The factors that did seem to influence whether the runners hurt themselves were body max, previous injury history and also whether or not a runner changed their routine, from not-stretching to a stretching! The risk was greater for stretchers who were told not to stretch, increasing the risk of injury by 40%, while those who switched from not stretching to stretching increased their risk by 22%.

The take home advice of - if it works don't try to fix it, is a strong message. Dr. Pereles stated: "I can't tell anyone there is conclusive evidence that stretching makes a difference in injuries or performance."

Last week I tested non-scientifically whether or not yoga made a difference to my own running, and if it was better to practice yoga before or after a run. By the end of the week the deep yoga tool-bag unveiled not only stretches and asanas to help me prepare and/ or recover from a run, but it also helped me plan for a particular type of run. Hill session coming up - try to correct your posture, adjust your breathing = yoga. Expecting to feeling tired at the end of a long run - remember to lengthen the spine, lift up out of the hips and relax the shoulders = yoga.

If Dr. Pereles tested whether yoga made any difference to runner's injury rates I wonder what the findings would be? What do you think?