PubMed · 12219409
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Mary Hampshire. 2002-07-24. On your marks.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12219409/
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The application of gene therapy to sports medicine is in its infancy, but it holds much promise as a novel procedure to improve the clinical management of sports injuries. Gene therapy will be particularly useful in initiating and accelerating the repair of cartilage, meniscus, tendon, and ligament. Several growth factors and other cytokines have been identified as important mediators of a successful healing process. Such molecules have promise as novel agents for the treatment of sports injuries, but there is presently no clinically useful way to deliver them. Gene transfer may be used to serve this purpose. Gene therapy functions as a type of local biological drug delivery system. Recent studies have shown the feasibility of transferring marker genes to synovium, chondrocytes, meniscal fibrochondrocytes, tenocytes and ligamental fibroblasts, prompting optimism about the eventual success of this approach.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of stretching before and after exercising on muscle soreness after exercise, risk of injury, and athletic performance. METHOD: Systematic review. DATA SOURCES: Randomised or quasi-randomised studies identified by searching Medline, Embase, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, and PEDro, and by recursive checking of bibliographies. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Muscle soreness, incidence of injury, athletic performance. RESULTS: Five studies, all of moderate quality, reported sufficient data on the effects of stretching on muscle soreness to be included in the analysis. Outcomes seemed homogeneous. Stretching produced small and statistically non-significant reductions in muscle soreness. The pooled estimate of reduction in muscle soreness 24 hours after exercising was only 0.9 mm on a 100 mm scale (95% confidence interval -2.6 mm to 4.4 mm). Data from two studies on army recruits in military training show that muscle stretching before exercising does not produce useful reductions in injury risk (pooled hazard ratio 0.95, 0.78 to 1.16). CONCLUSIONS: Stretching before or after exercising does not confer protection from muscle soreness. Stretching before exercising does not seem to confer a practically useful reduction in the risk of injury, but the generality of this finding needs testing. Insufficient research has been done with which to determine the effects of stretching on sporting performance.