August 14, 2026
This week’s photo is courtesy of Mount Sopris Instruments- Denver, CO, USA
Health Focus
Stretching- What You Were Told, and What the Evidence Says
The numbers say that stretching certainly deserves some attention and discussion. In the BLS data covering 2023 and 2024, overexertion, repetitive motion, and bodily conditions accounted for 946,290 serious injury cases. That is more than any other category, including contact incidents that come from tools and equipment. The median time away from work was eight days.
So most of us were told to stretch before work. Toe touches arm stretches, maybe a calf stretch, hold each for thirty seconds, and then get to work. Here is the uncomfortable part: the research does not support this as injury prevention. A systematic review of controlled trials found moderate to strong evidence that routine static stretching does not reduce overall injury rates. There is weaker evidence it may help specifically with muscle and tendon injuries, but the blanket claim does not hold up. And held long enough, past roughly 60 seconds per muscle group, static stretching measurably reduces strength and power, which is the opposite of what you want right before the heaviest lift of the day.
Think about taffy. Pull cold taffy and it snaps. Warm it up first and it stretches easily, and without snapping. Muscle and connective tissue behave in a similar way: cold tissue is stiff and resists, warm tissue moves. And notice how you actually warm taffy up. You work it. Pull, fold, pull again. That is movement, not a dead hold, and that is what our goal should be.
What the evidence does support is a real warm-up. A few minutes of easy activity to raise muscle temperature, then dynamic movement that looks like the work you are about to do. Arm circles and shoulder rolls before overhead work. Bodyweight squats and hip swings before lifting. Trunk rotations before shoveling. Warm-ups built around dynamic movement and general activity do show reduced injury rates.
And over the long run, the thing that helps most is not stretching at all. A review of eleven randomized trials found that strength training delivers the same range-of-motion benefit as static stretching, with everything else strength gives you on top of it. Save the long, relaxed holds for after the shift, when the tissue is warm and you are not about to load it.
Sources:
• Research in Sports Medicine: A Systematic Review into the Efficacy of Static Stretching as Part of a Warm-Up for the Prevention of Exercise-Related Injury
• Sports Medicine Open: Potential Effects of Dynamic Stretching on Injury Incidence of Athletes
• Mayo Clinic Press: Does Stretching Prevent Injuries?
Notes From the Editor
Starting Monday, The Daily Drop begins a walk down a very strategic path.
For the next year, one week at a time, we are going to work through the full body of knowledge behind the industry's certifications. This is intentional, and it is mapped out end to end. Fifty-two weeks covering the material a well professional is expected to know: aquifer hydraulics and geology, well construction, screens and filter packs, pumps, water quality, and the standards that govern the work. By this time next year, we will have covered all of it.
Here is the honest part. I am not doing this from a credential on my wall, handing down answers. Twenty-five years in, I am walking this road alongside you: organizing the material, checking every claim against primary sources, and studying the same pages anyone sitting for an exam this year will study.
The Safety Focus series will pull in the same direction wherever a real field hazard connects to the week's topic, because the correct way and the safe way are usually the same way.
You do not have to be chasing a certificate to get value from this. If you are, these fifty-two weeks are built to help you pass. If you are not, we hope you will come out sharper and better at the job you already do.
Grab a notebook. Monday, we start with orientation.
As always, have a great weekend, stay safe, and we will see you Monday.
Jeremy Kuhn
Founder, WaterWellResource.com
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