Pre- and Post-Activity Stretching Practices of Collegiate Athletic Trainers in the United States.

Popp, JK, Bellar, DM, Hoover, DL, Craig, BW, Leitzelar, BN, Wanless, EA, and Judge, LW. Pre- and post-activity stretching practices of collegiate athletic trainers in the United States. J Strength Cond Res 31(9): 2347-2354, 2017-The aim of the study was to investigate the knowledge and practices of collegiate-certified athletic trainers (ATs) in the United States. Participants (n = 521) were provided an overview of the study and a hyperlink to a web-based survey. The "pre- and post-activity practices in athletic training questionnaire" consisted of demographic items and elements to measure knowledge and practices related to pre- and post-activity stretching routines. In previous studies, the survey demonstrated construct validity, α = 0.722. Pearson chi-square test was used to evaluate goodness of fit, and kappa was calculated to measure agreement between items. Only 32.2% of ATs recommended dynamic stretching (DS) to be performed pre-activity, whereas a larger percentage (42.2%) recommended a combination of static stretching (SS) and DS. Athletic trainers reported that only 28.0% of athletes are performing DS before activity. Conversely, 60.6% of collegiate ATs recommended SS postexercise, and 61.0% of athletes agree and perform after workout SS (κ = 0.761, p < 0.001). Collegiate ATs seem to underuse the current research evidence, which indicates that DS is more beneficial than SS when used pre-activity, and ATs continue to regularly incorporate SS in their pre-activity routines. However, there is evidence that collegiate ATs in the United States emphasize SS postactivity in a manner consistent with current research.

An examination of preactivity and postactivity stretching practices of crosscountry and track and field distance coaches.

This study sought to determine the effectiveness of coach certification courses in promoting proper preactivity and postactivity stretching practices in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, II, and III crosscountry programs. Distribution of questionnaires to 770 NCAA Division I, Division II, and Division III programs in the U.S.A. resulted in 111 coaches (88 [78.2%] men and 25 [21.8%] women) participating. Chi-square analyses revealed that noncertified coaches reported significantly greater (χ² = 21.582, p = 0.0174) usage of static stretching alone as their preactivity modality (18.9%, n = 9) vs. their certified counterparts (1.8%, n = 1). In addition, certified coaches reported a higher usage of dynamic flexibility only during the preactivity period (47.4%, n = 27) vs. their noncertified peers (32.4%, n = 16). Coaches were also asked if they allowed for static stretching between interval work and events in track and field, and a significantly higher percentage (χ² = 11.948, p = 0.0177) of noncertified coaches (45.5%, n = 23) reported allowing the athletes to perform static stretches between intervals at practice than certified peers (37.9%, n = 22). These significant differences help demonstrate that coaching certification courses are an effective tool for communicating current information about stretching practices. However, the results also revealed that there are still many certified coaches who are not implementing best practices in preactivity routines.