This happens to me too. What is the difference between “stratifying” vs “blocking” for specific covariates in an RCT? As far as I can tell, people use the two interchangeably but “stratification” comes from sampling theory whereas “blocking” comes from experimental design.
Thus, “stratification” implies a procedure that almost never happens in RCTs, i.e., that patients were sampled from a population based on a stratification factor such as age. Instead, enrolled patients (typically a convenience sample) are randomized within blocks based on specific blocking factors such as age. It is even more preferable to covariate adjust for the blocking factor.
Related discussion with @ChristopherTong and @ESMD on the differences between random sampling and random allocation.