No significant correlation between the intensity of static stretching and subject's perception of pain.
Wootaek Lim, Hyunju Park
PMID 29184306WHAT IT FOUND
When practitioners stretched 68 healthy young adults' hamstrings to the point of pain, the force they applied did not match the pain scores those adults reported.
Pain alone was not a reliable guide to stretching intensity.
Key findings
01The measured intensity of static stretching did not correlate with participants' reported pain scores.
02Participants' mean pain score was 5.57 ± 1.77 on a 0-to-10 scale, and the most frequent scores were 7 (18 participants) and 6 (16 participants).
03The measured stretching intensity ranged from 28.4 N to 133.0 N, with a mean of 72.04 ± 22.37 N.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study included only healthy young adults, so it does not show what happens in older adults or people with disease or disability. It tested only the hamstring muscles during a single stretch, so it does not cover other muscles or repeated stretching. It did not measure flexibility changes or injury outcomes, so it cannot show whether a given stretching intensity helps or harms. The instruction to stretch to the point where pain was recognized may be interpreted differently by different people.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that a therapist should ignore pain or that a specific stretching force is safe. The study only showed that reported pain scores did not match measured hamstring stretching force in a single short stretch, and it did not test flexibility, injury or treatment outcomes.