Stretching used to be so simple. You were supposed to do it at every workout, it was supposed to keep you safe and limber, and now look what's happened. We found that a pre-workout stretch doesn't protect you from injury, and if you want to improve performance and flexibility, your plan should be pretty carefully tailored so you make the right kind of gains. But one thing is still universal: when you're sore the day after a workout, and you stretch out that tight muscle, it feels soooo good.

Or maybe it just seems that way because it feels like you're doing something. Here's what I'm asking today: does stretching actually do anything to relieve soreness or help recovery?

Recommendations to stretch for better recovery come in two flavors: promises that stretching will make your soreness go away, and advice to stretch after (or before) your workout to prevent the workout from making you sore. We'll also examine whether stretching affects other aspects of recovery, although much of the science has focused on DOMS, the delayed-onset muscle soreness we've discussed here before.

One clear-cut study was done in Toronto in 1994. The researchers had ten sedentary people perform hamstring curls with both legs, but with the clever twist that they would only do stretches (either before or after exercising) with one leg and not the other. They rated their pain in each leg over the course of the next few days, and researchers tested their pain threshold and range of motion. Result: absolutely no difference between the stretching and non-stretching legs for any of those measures. The researchers suggested that it's possible some other stretching protocol might help (theirs included ten minutes worth of stretching a single muscle; other studies had used as much as 45 minutes) but, so far, no dice.

Unfortunately, research in the intervening years hasn't come up with any routines that work much better. A review published a few months ago in the Strength and Conditioning Journal lays out the lack of good evidence for stretching; although that paper is behind a paywall, one of the authors has also written a freely available article giving his opinion on the matter, which includes many of the same references.

The review fast-forwards through several decades of research. Much of it finds stretching to have no detectable effect on pain or stiffness; other studies show small effects, such as reducing pain by an average of one point on a hundred-point scale. Among the studies that did show an effect, many used gentle movements rather than intense static stretches. This may be because static stretching decreases blood flow to a muscle, while other recovery techniques like hot/cold contrast and massage aim to do the opposite.

The authors conclude that dynamic stretches or pain-free range of motion exercises are your best bet if you don't want to ditch stretching entirely. My own opinion, given the inconsistency of results, is that if you have a stretching routine that works for you, it probably won't hurt to keep doing it. But if you're only stretching because you feel like you have to, here is your out.
(Embedded within that article is a little history of the idea that stretching counters soreness. In the 1960s, a hypothesis emerged that soreness was due to tiny muscle spasms, so stretching was promoted as a way of countering those spasms. That hypothesis has fallen by the wayside, but stretching lives on.)

So what does work?

Here is the rundown of what's effective and what's not. My main source is this 2003 review of recovery techniques from a group of New Zealand sport scientists, which is an excellent read for understanding recovery. I've included newer sources where applicable.

Arnica (either the under-the-tongue homeopathic stuff, or the gel): Nope, nope, nope.

Cold: Probably no. Studies involving both trained and untrained men show that ice baths and ice massage don't alleviate any aspect of DOMS, unless you count the numbness you get while the ice is applied. Hey, if it feels good, do it!

Compression garments: Probably yes. Make sure they fit well (snug but not super tight).

Exercise (light activity): It works as temporary relief of symptoms. It doesn't seem to help recovery as such.

Ibuprofen: Not worth it. Truly massive doses make a detectable but small dent in soreness. However, at those doses ibuprofen interferes with muscle growth, so the overall effect on your recovery is negative.

Massage: Probably no, but it may depend what kind. Various studies give conflicting answers, but they all use different techniques and timing. This is another case where if it seems to be working for you, keep on keepin' on.

Stretching: Probably no (as discussed). If you stretch, dynamic/range of motion movements are recommended over static stretches.