Kay, A., & Blazevich, A. (2012). Effect of acute static stretch on maximal muscle performance: a systematic review. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 44, 154-164.

"The benefits of pre-exercise muscle stretching have been recently questioned after reports of significant post-stretch reductions in force and power production. However, methodological issues and equivocal findings have prevented a clear consensus being reached. As no detailed systematic review exists, the literature describing responses to acute static muscle stretch was comprehensively examined.

Searches revealed 4559 possible articles with 106 meeting the inclusion criteria. Study design was often poor because 30% of studies failed to provide appropriate reliability statistics. Clear evidence exists indicating that short-duration acute static stretch (<30 seconds) has no detrimental effect (pooled estimate = -1.1%), with overwhelming evidence that stretch durations of 30–45 seconds also imparted no significant effect (pooled estimate = -1.9%). A sigmoidal dose–response effect was evident between stretch duration and both the likelihood and magnitude of significant decrements, with a significant reduction likely to occur with stretches >60 seconds. This strong evidence for a dose–response effect was independent of performance task, contraction mode, or muscle group. Studies have only examined changes in eccentric strength when the stretch durations were >60 seconds, with limited evidence for an effect on eccentric strength.

Implications. The detrimental effects of static stretch are mainly limited to longer durations (>60 seconds), which may not be typically used during pre-exercise routines in clinical, healthy, or athletic populations. Shorter durations of stretch (<60 seconds) can be performed in a pre-exercise routine without compromising maximal muscle performance. "

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