The Impact of a Single Bout of Antagonist Stretching on Agonist Muscle Performance and Range of Motion: A Systematic review and Meta-analysis.

Authors

Andreas Konrad, Konstantin Warneke, Stanislav D Siegel, Megan Squires, Ethan Lawson, Javier Gene-Morales, David G Behm

Published in

Sports medicine - open. Volume 12. Issue 1. Jul 09, 2026. Epub Jul 09, 2026.

Abstract

Stretching is widely used to increase the range of motion (ROM) of a joint and has been shown to impact both stretched and non-stretched limbs.
Given conflicting findings regarding the acute effects of antagonist muscle stretching on agonist performance (e.g., strength, power) and ROM, this meta-analysis aims to clarify these issues and identify moderating factors.
Following PRISMA 2020 and ethical publishing guidance, the protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD420251014186). MEDLINE/PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched from inception to April 2025. Eligibility followed PICOS criteria: healthy participants; unloaded static, dynamic or proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching of an antagonist; passive control; agonist performance or ROM outcomes; randomised or controlled pre-post trials. Risk of bias was assessed with the PEDro scale. Where > 2 studies were available, pooled effects were calculated with a robust-variance-estimation random-effects model (robumeta R package); otherwise, results were described qualitatively. Effect sizes (SMD) were interpreted as trivial (< 0.2), small (0.2-0.49), moderate (0.5-0.79) or large (≥ 0.8). Moderator, subgroup, and sensitivity analyses examined stretch duration and stretching technique. Certainty of evidence was graded with GRADE.
Nine eligible trials involving 302 healthy participants met the criteria. Antagonist stretching produced a trivial, non-significant improvement in agonist performance (SMD = 0.22, 95% CI - 0.10-0.56, p = 0.14; low certainty). Moderator analyses showed no influence of stretch duration per bout (< 120 s vs ≥ 120 s) or stretching type (static, dynamic, PNF). Qualitative synthesis for ROM parameters suggested weak evidence for a small agonist ROM increase. Funnel-plot inspection revealed no clear publication-bias pattern; Egger's test was not applied (< 10 studies). Findings are constrained by small sample sizes, moderate heterogeneity and predominantly fair-quality trials, yielding low overall certainty.
Current evidence indicates no clinically meaningful acute effect of antagonist stretching on agonist performance or ROM, irrespective of stretch duration or technique. Larger, high-quality trials are required to establish whether antagonist stretching offers practical benefits.

PMID:
42426324
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 10 Jul 2026.

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