stretching in kids

[turtle]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering in your opinions what the best method of stretching is for children (post workout)?
I'm a swim coach of kids ages 10-13. There are so many different opinions on how long to hold (I've seen 5-10sec, 30 sec, 1 min) and how many sets, how many times a week, etc.. And I know that kids shouldn't stretch the same as adults.

I'm just looking on your thoughts of how to effectively maintain or improve ranges of motion in the muscle groups that are commonly used in swimming (pecs, lats, quads, hams, etc...) for kids. As from personal experience, I know that these muscle groups tend to shorten and get tight, limiting range of motion further down the road leading to various injuries if this is not done correctly.

Thanks in Advance!

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[karen.hankey]

And I know that kids shouldn't stretch the same as adults. How do you know this to be the case?

You are wanting the kids to stretch to stop muscle tightness to prevent injury. But even as adults this is why we stretch. I'm not sure why there should be any difference.

In my opinion if we taught children to stretch at an early age and showed them the benefits then injuries could be prevented in later life. I would treat them the same as you would an adult. Make sure they are feeling the stretch where they are meant to, and if they aren't look at their techinique to find out why and correct it.