Static stretching is a type of stretch where you hold the lengthening position of a muscle for a period of time. While many have followed the stretching ritual before a workout for many years, scientific research in the past decades has found that static stretching has mixed results in improving
An editorial in Nature Neuroscience argued that biological tests, such as brain scans and biomarkers, do not prove or disprove a person’s pain. However, a responding researcher said that doesn’t make biomarkers “futile or conceptually flawed.” Lead pain researcher Jan Vollert at the University of Exeter and 10 colleagues argued
A 2018 study found that using standing posture assessments to find whether someone has low back pain to be “irreproducible.” The researchers of this study, led by Dr. Hendrik Schmidt from Charité–Universitätsmedizinin Berlin wrote that such lack of reproducible results can lead to misinterpretation of imaging measurements, wrong diagnoses and
Current research finds that you don’t need to lift heavy weights like the beefiest guy at the gym to get bigger muscles. A 2022 umbrella review of 14 meta-analyses reported that training volume and frequency may matter more than how heavy you lift. Volume When other variables are held constant,
Key takeaways Mechanical tension and mechanotransduction are currently the strongest evidence-based explanations for how muscles get bigger. Current evidence suggests that anabolic hormones, cell swelling (“pump”), and metabolites have little to no effect on muscle hypertrophy. A Canadian exercise scientist suggests a few ways for academics and others to disseminate
Walk into any gym, and you’ll likely find a variety of balance equipment stacked on racks or strewn about the floor, like wobble boards, BOSU balls, and foam pads. But how effective is balance training for improving athletic performance and injury recovery? Let’s see what the research says. Strength and
A 2025 editorial published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine argued that increasing muscular strength is not the main driver for reducing pain. Instead, they wrote that strength training is one component among several factors that contribute to pain reduction, based on the biopsychosocial framework of pain. These other
A 2015 study published in Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport found that cricket fast bowlers with abdominal symmetry have higher incidences of low back pain than those who have abdominal muscle asymmetry. Sixteen of the 25 teenage cricket fast bowlers in South Africa participated in the study have
Shoulder abnormalities, such as osteoarthritis and rotator cuff tears, do not always mean they are the primary cause of shoulder pain. A 2024 systematic review published in Osteoarthritis & Cartilage found 30% to 75% of the general population with such shoulder abnormalities are asymptomatic. Although researchers Ibounig et al. wrote
Confounding factors can cause some researchers to believe that there’s a direct cause-and-effect relationship in their studies. For example, if they were to examine whether taking a vitamin would increase an athlete’s stamina, there are likely other factors besides the vitamin that could influence their results. It could be sleep
Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, or PNF, is a type of stretching that involves a muscle to repeatedly contract against resistance and then relaxed into a deeper stretch, using the nervous system to allow greater lengthening. In practice, a practitioner or partner takes a limb into a passive stretch. Then the athlete contracts
While stretching is often recommended by many fitness, sports, and rehab professionals, few could explain how it works and why. Traditional explanations often include “it lengthens your muscles” or “releases fascia.” However, research in the last 30-plus years has shown that stretching is less about mechanical properties and more about