Can stretching make muscles bigger even if you don’t squeeze them?
Efficacy of passive repetitive stretching of skeletal muscle on myofiber hypertrophy and genetic suppression on MAFbx, MuRF1, and myostatin
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists stretched mice legs without making the muscles work, just by moving the ankle. They did this many times a day for two weeks and then checked the muscles.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
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A snapshot of a population at a single point in time. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine the direction of cause and effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists stretched mice legs without making the muscles work, just by moving the ankle. They did this many times a day for two weeks and then checked the muscles.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 57 / 44
Evidence Score
A snapshot of a population at a single point in time. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine the direction of cause and effect.
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Claims (6)
You can grow muscle not just by lifting weights, but also by stretching—just as long as the muscle feels enough tension, no matter how it's created.
Stretching mouse leg muscles regularly seems to turn on genes that help build muscle and repair muscle cells.
Stretching mice's leg muscles didn't change the number of muscle repair cells, suggesting their muscles still grew without using more of these cells.
Stretching mouse leg muscles regularly for two weeks seemed to make the muscle fibers grow bigger, which could mean the muscles got stronger at a microscopic level.
Stretching mice passively over time might help reduce the activity of genes that break down muscle and block muscle growth, suggesting it could help protect against muscle loss.