Une étude récente publiée en 2025 a réuni la recherche internationale pour évaluer les affirmations entourant les prétendus bienfaits des étirements.
Leur conclusion : les étirements ne réduisent pas le risque de blessure, n’aident pas à la récupération, n’améliorent pas la performance lorsqu’ils sont faits avant l’exercice, et ne corrigent pas la posture ni les déséquilibres musculaires (2).
Beaucoup d’athlètes et de personnes actives ont des routines d’étirement auxquelles ils croient et qu’ils trouvent utiles.
Le but ici n’est pas de remettre ça en question, mais d’apporter plus de contexte et de démystifier certaines idées reçues sur les étirements.
La recherche sur les étirements est complexe : il existe plusieurs types d’étirements, réalisés à différents moments, souvent dans le cadre d’un échauffement.
C’est pourquoi il est difficile d’en tirer des conclusions claires.
Cependant, l’American College of Sports Medicine, qui considérait autrefois la flexibilité comme l’un des piliers de la condition physique (6), reconnaît désormais que les bienfaits des activités de flexibilité pour la santé ne sont pas démontrés et qu’il est incertain qu’elles réduisent le risque de blessure (4).
En résumé : les étirements, c’est personnel, il n’existe pas une seule bonne façon de faire.
Sources
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