June 25, 2026 / by Aerial Edge / In circus-training

Does stretching actually prevent injury? What the research says

This article sets out what stretching does and does not do for injury risk, and why the strength work matters more than most flexibility advice admits. It is written for adults who train, or want to train, aerial.

The short answer is no, at least not on its own. Stretching has its place, and you should do it, but stretching by itself does not injury-proof you. Large reviews of injury-prevention training bear this out: across tens of thousands of participants, stretching shows no general all-cause injury-prevention effect, while strength training cuts injury risk substantially (Lauersen et al. 2014). The thing that builds injury resilience is strength at the end of your range, the strength in the positions where you are already near your limit. That is what most flexibility advice gets backwards, and it matters most if you train aerial.

What stretching does well, and what it doesn’t

Stretching earns you range. Done regularly and sensibly, it raises how far a joint will travel. A lot of your early progress isn’t the muscle getting longer; it is your nervous system raising its tolerance to the stretch. There is a protective reflex, the stretch reflex, that resists when a muscle is lengthened quickly or far, and a large share of early flexibility gain is that reflex turning its sensitivity down rather than the tissue actually lengthening (Weppler & Magnusson 2010, Physical Therapy 90(3):438–449; review PMC12152101). Real change in the connective tissue is slow when it comes.

That is worth knowing because it explains why patience wins, and why you can’t measure progress every single session. It also explains the classic overstretch injury: chasing range faster than the tissue can adapt. Going slow isn’t a soft option. It is the safety mechanism.

But there is a gap. Earning more range doesn’t mean you can control that range when something loads it. A split you can drop into on the floor, with your hips fully supported, is a very different thing from a split held in the air on silks, where the muscles and connective tissue may have to support forces well above your bodyweight, at or near the edge of what the joint can reach. Range that gives way the moment it’s loaded isn’t usable. Stretching gives you the range; it does not, by itself, give you the strength to control it under load.

So what actually lowers injury risk?

Strength training in a lengthened position, the muscle under load while it is at long length, is one of the best-evidenced injury-prevention methods there is. This is the part generic flexibility training misses.

Loading a muscle at long length builds fascicle length, and longer fascicles are linked to a lower chance of strain injury. In a prospective study of elite footballers, players with shorter biceps-femoris fascicles were several times more likely to suffer a hamstring strain, and eccentric work at long muscle length both lengthens fascicles and lowers re-injury rates (Timmins et al. 2016; Marušič et al. 2020). So when we say strength builds resilience, there is a specific mechanism behind it: build strength and length at the end of the range, and the tissue tolerates load there better.

This is why injury resilience is anchored to strength through your full range rather than to stretching alone. Stretching on its own does not injury-proof you; the strength you build at end range is what does.

Why “does stretching prevent injury” is the wrong question

The better question is whether you can control the range you have. A flexible joint you can’t actively hold under load is the one that gets hurt. The fix isn’t more stretching; it is building strength into the positions you have already opened up, so the range holds when an apparatus, or a fall, or your own bodyweight tests it.

Active beats passive, and why that matters here

There are two ways to find range. Passive flexibility is range produced by an outside force (gravity, a partner, a long warm-up) while you relax into it. Active flexibility is range you produce by contracting your own muscles to move into the position, sometimes with added load.

For raw range, a 2023 systematic review with meta-analysis has active, static and PNF stretching coming out roughly even, with no one method clearly ahead (Behm et al. 2023, Sports Medicine - Open 9:107, doi:10.1186/s40798-023-00652-x; PNF-versus-static comparison, PubMed 28182516). But for usable, controllable range, the range you can hold on the apparatus, active and loaded work clearly wins, because it builds strength and control through the new range rather than only the range itself.

That is why Aerial Edge uses both active and passive work, with more emphasis on active. The reason is that active range is the range you can control under load, which is the range that matters on silks or a hoop. Passive stretching isn’t dangerous and it isn’t pointless: gravity, partner work and long warm-ups all earn range. It is just incomplete on its own. One detail worth knowing: strength and power dip temporarily, for roughly 30 to 60 minutes, right after long, intense passive holds (the acute force-decrement review, PMC10361527). So you can be both strong and flexible, just not in the moments straight after a hard passive-stretch session. The dip is temporary and passes within the hour.

So the approach is straightforward: train the range, then train the strength to hold it.

What this means for how you train

A few things follow from all of this.

Keep stretching, but stop expecting it to be the whole job. Stretch each muscle group at least two to three times a week for range (Thomas et al. 2018, on stretching frequency and weekly volume), holding each static stretch around 30 seconds and building toward 60 over time. Going from 30 to 60 seconds mainly adds total weekly volume, and it is the volume across the week that moves range, not how long any single hold lasts. Don’t fixate on marathon holds.

Watch the line between tension and pain. A stretch should produce gentle tension in the muscle, never pain. At Aerial Edge we coach stretching to gentle tension, never into pain. Pain in the joint, as opposed to a stretch felt in the muscle belly, is a stop signal: stop and reassess, don’t push through it.

Spend real time on strength through your full range, especially at end range. This is the part that builds resilience, and it is the part a stretching-only routine misses entirely. Load the lengthened position. Train the strength to control the positions you can reach.

If you are an adult chasing your splits, the same logic applies: the split isn’t finished when you touch the floor, it is finished when you can hold and use it. We get into that in how to get the splits as an adult. And if strength is the missing half of your training and you are not sure where to begin, strength training for aerial: where beginners should start is the place to start. None of this stops mattering as you get older. If anything the strength work matters more, which is the point of can you get flexible in your 50s, 60s and 70s?

Where to build this for real

Reading about end-range strength is one thing. Building it is another, and it is a lot easier with people who coach it, watching your range and loading it sensibly. If you want to train this properly, our adult classes are where to start.

Stretching is genuinely worth doing for the range it earns. It is half the job, and it is the half most people stop at. Whether stretching prevents injury comes down to this: the strength you build into that range is what does the real work.

References and further reading

• Lauersen JB, Bertelsen DM, Andersen LB (2014). The effectiveness of exercise interventions to prevent sports injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine 48(11):871–877. Strength training reduces injury risk substantially; stretching shows no general all-cause injury-prevention effect.
• Weppler CH, Magnusson SP (2010). Increasing muscle extensibility: a matter of increasing length or modifying sensation? Physical Therapy 90(3):438–449. Early range-of-motion gain is mostly raised stretch tolerance (sensory/neural), not the muscle physically lengthening. Supporting review: PMC12152101.
• Timmins RG, Bourne MN, Shield AJ, Williams MD, Lorenzen C, Opar DA (2016). Short biceps femoris fascicles and eccentric knee flexor weakness increase the risk of hamstring injury in elite football (soccer): a prospective cohort study. British Journal of Sports Medicine 50(24):1524–1535. Shorter muscle fascicles predict higher hamstring-strain risk; longer fascicles are protective.
• Marušič J, Vatovec R, Marković G, Šarabon N (2020). Effects of eccentric training at long-muscle length on architectural and functional characteristics of the hamstrings. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports 30(11):2130–2142. Eccentric training at long muscle length lengthens fascicles and improves hamstring function.
• Behm DG, Alizadeh S, Daneshjoo A, et al. (2023). Acute Effects of Various Stretching Techniques on Range of Motion: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis. Sports Medicine - Open 9:107. doi:10.1186/s40798-023-00652-x. Active, static and PNF are roughly even for acute range of motion. Pair with the PNF-versus-static comparison at PubMed 28182516.
• Acute force-decrement review (PMC10361527). A long static stretch just before loading temporarily reduces force and power for roughly 30 to 60 minutes.
• Thomas E, Bianco A, Paoli A, Palma A (2018). The relation between stretching typology and stretching duration: the effects on range of motion. International Journal of Sports Medicine 39(4):243–254. Weekly stretching volume and frequency drive range-of-motion gains; supports stretching 2 to 3 times a week. (Note: this paper found static gains over ballistic/PNF; the “active, static and PNF roughly even” point above rests on Behm et al. 2023 and the PNF-versus-static comparison, not on this paper.)