Episode 27: Exercise

15 snips

Feb 13, 2024

In this podcast, the hosts explore the myths surrounding exercise, including whether stretching before exercising actually helps and if exercise helps alleviate depression. They also discuss the reliability of sports science and the need for reliable studies. The hosts share personal experiences and perspectives on the topics discussed, adding an entertaining touch to the conversation.

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INSIGHT

Static Stretching Shows No Clear Injury Benefit

Multiple randomized trials and meta-analyses find no clear injury-prevention benefit from static stretching before exercise.
The best estimates hover near zero and confidence intervals cross no-effect, so evidence is weak or absent.

ANECDOTE

Host Starts With Post-Game Soreness

Tom opened the episode mentioning he had delayed onset muscle soreness after playing football the night before.
He used the soreness to introduce the episode's discussion about stretching and exercise benefits.

INSIGHT

Bundled Interventions Hide Stretching's Role

Many early RCTs bundled stretching with other interventions, making it impossible to isolate stretching's effect.
That design flaw likely produced misleading claims that stretching prevents injuries.

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Okay, whether exercise is good isn’t really in question. But there are so many pseudoscientific myths surrounding sports and exercise that it’s always worth looking more closely at some of the claims.

In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart look into two widely-believed claims about exercise. First, does stretching your muscles before exercising actually help you in any way? Second, does exercise help alleviate the symptoms of depression? And then, they ask a bonus question inspired by the quality of the evidence on the previous two: why is so much of sports science so crap?

The Studies Show is brought to you by Works in Progress, the brilliant magazine of ideas about human progress. If you’re at all interested in science and technology, and in reading detailed, well-researched, beautifully-illustrated articles about some surprising and fascinating scientific topics, then Works in Progress is the magazine for you. What’s more, it’s all free. Take a look at their website at this link.

Show notes

* Old (and bad) 1983 study on stretching and muscle injury

* Review questioning the theoretical basis of the supposed benefit of stretching

* 2020 systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence for (among other things) stretching

* 2005 review of the same, with very similar results

* 2011 Cochrane Review of stretching to prevent delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS)

* The strange fad of “kinesio tape”, used by many top athletes (for no actual demonstrable benefit)

* The TREAD study on physical activity for depression

* Tom on the very angry Guardian article attacking the TREAD study

* 2013 Cochrane Review on exercise for depression - a very small effect

* 2021 meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials of exercise for depression symptoms (in people without clinical depression)

* Survey on the replication crisis in sports & exercise science

* Attempt to replicate four sports & exercise science studies

* The Sports Science Replication Center, who ran the above replication attempt

Credits

The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe