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

Jennifer K. Popp, David M. Bellar, Donald L. Hoover, Bruce W. Craig, Brianna N. Leitzelar, Elizabeth A. Wanless, Lawrence W. Judge

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

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 ( = 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.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2347-2354
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of strength and conditioning research
Volume31
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2017
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Keywords

  • cooldown
  • stretching protocol
  • warm-up

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