Does stretching prevent injuries?

Short answer

No. Stretching before exercise did not reduce overall injuries. What cut injuries was strength training.

Does stretching prevent injuries?
'Stretch → more flexible → fewer injuries' — does this formula hold?
Since gym class, we have heard that skipping your stretch before exercise gets you hurt. The logic is that looser muscles tear less. We checked this formula one step at a time.
A trial of 1,538 people: no difference in injuries
Stretching 6 leg muscles for 20 seconds each changed nothing
1,538 people stretched 6 leg muscles for 20 seconds each in every warm-up for 12 weeks. The other group warmed up without stretching. Leg injuries were 158 in the stretching group and 175 in the other, with no real difference.
Running showed the same
6 trials, 5,130 people: injuries did not drop
421 people did a warm-up, cool-down and stretching routine with their running for 16 weeks, yet had 5.5 injuries per 1,000 hours versus 4.9 in those who did not. An analysis that pooled 6 trials with 5,130 people also found stretching did not cut leg muscle and tendon injuries.
So do flexible people get hurt less?
450 people over 1 year: flexibility had nothing to do with injury
Stretching clearly makes you more flexible. But when 450 people had their hamstring flexibility measured and were followed for a year, 23 hurt their hamstrings, and flexibility was not linked to injury. The formula breaks at 'more flexible → fewer injuries'.
Strength training, on the other hand, cut injuries
26,610 people: injuries fell below 1/3
An analysis that pooled 25 trials with 26,610 people found stretching did not reduce injuries, but strength training cut them to below 1/3. Strength work that lengthens the hamstrings under load cut hamstring injuries by 56.8 to 70%.
A 2024 trial pointed the same way
Hip and core work instead of stretching: 34% fewer injuries
325 people did either hip and core strength exercises or static stretching before running for 24 weeks. The hip and core group had 34% fewer leg injuries and 39% fewer overuse injuries.
Muscle tears were the exception
Sports with sprinting and quick changes of direction
A 2023 review concluded that stretching does not cut overall injuries, but it does reduce muscle and tendon injuries in sports with explosive moves or quick changes of direction. That is a different story from gym lifting, which has few of those moves.
Bottom line: strength training prevents injuries
Think of stretching as a flexibility tool
Stretching before exercise did not reduce injuries in the 1,538-person trial or the 5,130-person analysis. Strength training did. Stretching works when you need flexibility; for injury prevention, hip, core and hamstring strength work is what helps.