There’s a difference between static, dynamic stretching and pre-contraction.
I perform about 10-20 minutes of dynamic stretching, mobility and activation prior to exercising.
High five @milee30 How’d I tear my meniscus? Yoga! Seriously. It was hero’s pose. I used to be good at it. I used to sleep like that as a kid (weirdo, I know). But that video we sat like that for 5 min while stretching our arms. I felt fine the whole time until I got out of it and then something just didn’t feel right.
How’d I hurt my foot that resulted in 18 months of PF like h*ll? I tripped over a speed bump while running. Tore up my leg and my plastic water bottle shattered into a million pieces. Ugh.
@ClassicMom98 - yep. Welcome to the Embarrassing Injuries Club. Although we do interesting, hardcore workouts, do we ever injure ourselves doing one of them? Nope. It’s the yoga or the bump in the road that gets us.
And if it wasn’t bad enough to get a dumb injury, it’s somehow worse to have to confess how you got it. It was hotter than Hades here when I sprained my ankle, but I wore long pants over the wrap for weeks so I didn’t have to tell anyone I injured myself doing yoga. It just sounded so lame. It would be like breaking a wrist on those arm bicycles used for rehab. The shame… 
I googled a couple NCBI articles on the topic of stretching for everyone.
“CURRENT CONCEPTS IN MUSCLE STRETCHING FOR EXERCISE AND REHABILITATION”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3273886/
“Stretching and injury prevention: an obscure relationship.”
I have fallen twice in the last 2 years - once while walking (stepped off of the paved path and lost my balance) and once while running (slipped on some sand on the street and lost my balance). Had some (thankfully minor) injuries both times. Oh and last summer I stepped of a curb and lost my balance… stayed on my feet but rolled my ankle.
Notice a pattern here. I work on my balance in yoga, and while it’s gotten better , it still stinks. In my case, my proprioception issue likely has a lot to do with it. But I am committed to being active.
All my accidents seem to occur at home.
I mentioned I hurt my back last August just packing for vacation. I took a couple days off, but then after, trained right through it. More recently, I was playing ball with SushiPuppy and I was walking backwards, getting ready to throw the ball, and I tripped over my own two feet and fell backwards onto my backside and arm. The fall felt like slow motion to me. Thankfully, no injuries.
i might have posted this on the old thread, but a few months ago I fell ON my treadmill. I had just started my run (literally 1/10th mile) and caught my toe or something and went down on the belt. It was like sandpaper. I managed to straddle the moving belt with both hands and both feet, but couldn’t get myself off without hitting the belt and getting spit off the back. I had serious “rug” burns on my shin and both knees. I didn’t realize quite how bad it was, got up and finished my run with blood dripping down my leg. Went upstairs and had to do some serious first aid. I still have scars. I fall outside about once a year- usually nothing too serious but I did land on my face once and my sunglasses made a small gash by my eye that had to be glued/bandaged at the walk-in clinic. I have a low foot pickup, so I’m always a fall risk.
I hurt my knee last summer pivoting funny while emptying the dishwasher. Same week my neighbor sprained her ankle missing a step in her house. H reminded me that Sammy Sosa threw out his back sneezing. Stuff happens.
That said I had a great day on the mountain. I’m exhausted but very happy!
Broke a vertebra 18 months ago walking on a wooden boardwalk in a park. Dh and I were taking the dog for a stroll through the park. The wood was damp from rain the previous day and I went right down. Found out in the ER that I also have severe spinal stenosis in the two vertebrae just below it.
Good times.
Regarding aging athletes. This almost broke my heart:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/51451057
Ouch! Be careful. Ask Mr. B how he broke his foot and a rib. Both falls were due to the dog’s activities. 
There is some statistics that 80% of injuries in people’s homes are due to pets. And this:
https://www.livescience.com/10995-cats-dogs-household-hazards.html
We truly love them to death.
My torn meniscus was the result of being bumped hard by my dog. Another time he knocked me when I was going down steps to my driveway. I fell hard and luckily I had a strong core due to Pilates I was able to keep my head from hitting the concrete.
I had a good week. Got in a lot of track time, Pilates and strength training.
I have weak glute muscles and my one legged bridge on one side is pathetic. I can barely get my butt off the ground. What I love about PT is that I learned that even though I thought I was getting glute work done at the gym I wasn’t. I was using my quads and my knees were suffering. I have alignment issues, tight hamstrings and gait issues. It’s extremely hard to retrain your body to walk efficiently. The eye opener was when he put a laser belt on me and I saw the laser going all over the wall when I walked.
Ha! I forgot that just a day or two ago, SushiPuppy slammed into my leg running back from chasing the ball and bringing it back to me.
I’ve really got to pay more attention.
I’m thinking all the exercise must help me from SushiPuppy killing me out there in the backyard. 
I’m convinced that my downfall will be tripping over a dog or cat. When I get up in the dark I am SO careful because they are all over the floor. When we had our more energetic/younger Golden, he pulled me down several times.
That’s sad about Pele.
@mom60 Your imbalances sound like mine! I can do the bridges, but my hamstrings will cramp since I’m so weak in the glutes. It is SO easy to use the quads and hurt the knees and not realize that the glutes aren’t firing at all.
Oh gosh, yes! My body compensates so many different ways while I have no idea. PT and yoga are definitely eye openers. In yoga, the 3 legged dog - your toes are supposed to point down. Mine initially were off to the side. It took literally MONTHS - not to learn to point them downward. No, that took over a year. It took months for my brain to even be able to tell my foot/leg to wiggle even a little. I have no brain/body connection.
And I have to watch myself in a mirror and sometimes video myself to see what I’m doing. Because most of the time what I THINK I’m doing is so far from reality, it’s funny.
And my ankles have no mobility. So, if I get off balance a little, I go down. My ankles can’t compensate. Running on grass is impossible. I used to have this run where I had to run on a grass shoulder for 200 yards. I fell EVERY TIME! I would concentrate so hard, but nope. Down I’d go…
When I was doing yoga, I could not do the poses where you sat between your knees with your knees bent back against your leg. It killed my knees. Now that I had that MRI and it showed arthritis with cartilage destruction, it makes sense.
I had to cancel going on a hike today bc the dog walker flaked on me.
The upside? I got a lot of sleep.
@MomofWildChild that’s hero’s pose - what I tore my meniscus on. I was good at it. I could lay all the way back most days. And then one day - it was too much. No warning. Ugh. I will never attempt it again. I’m still working on just being able to sit on my heels comfortably again. I can get there now (after 1-2 years of work post surgery) but it’s not comfy. I used to fold all my laundry sitting on my heels. Now I’m an old lady in a chair.
But the upside was that my MRI showed that aside from the meniscus, my knee was in really good shape for having over 50,000 running miles on them.
@ClassicMom98 and @MomofWildChild - I do not even try hero’s pose. I don’t really have bad knees, but just don’t think it would work for me and not interested in finding out that it doesn’t. Luckily, yoga always offers other options.
5 mile run with the training group this morning, we had a big turnout in 16 degree weather. We are dedicated!
You can always modify Virasana (Hero Pose) by putting a block/s under your bum, which takes pressure off your knees. It isn’t my favorite, especially if you are going to be in it for a long time. I would much rather sit cross legged (Sukahasana). You can make Sukahasana less stressful by raising your hips, e.g., sitting on a block or a blanket.
In my area, there aren’t many studios that offer beginner’s sessions. I think that’s one reason people get injured. They don’t know their limitations and try to keep up. Yoga isn’t a competitive activity.
A good teacher offers modifications for poses and talks to every new person before the class starts to find out if he/she has limitations or injuries. It is one of the reasons that most studios ask that you arrive 10-15 minutes before class.