The Acute Effect of Pre-Exercise Static and Dynamic Stretching of the Leg Flexors

The purpose of t his study was to investigate the acute effects of pre-exercise static and dynamic stretching on peak torque of the knee extensors in female athletes and non-athletes. Thirty subjects (15 athletes and 15 nonathletes) completed three tests on an isokinetic dynamometer. After performing a randomly assigned preexercise stretching protocol (no stret ching, static or dynamic) the subjects performed eight maximal, reciprocal knee extensions on an isokinetic dynamometer at three speeds (180, 120, 60û/s) while measuring peak torque. No s ignificant differences (p < .05) were found among the three stretching protocols for either the athletes or non-athletes. However, the results suggest that static stretching may cause a loss in overall peak torque in contrast to dynamic stretching in athletes. Introduction Many athletes use some type of war m-up routine to prepare themselves for exercise or athletic competition. Traditionally, these warm-ups have included some form of stretching, which has become commonplace in a v ariety of sports. There are numerous techniques of stretch ing, including static, dynamic, ballistic and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (Alter, 1997). Among these, static stretching is most commonly used be cause it has been reported to be safe and easy to perform (Hedrick, 2000). However, previous studies have reported that stretching exercises may negatively affect performance, especially following warm-up and prior to exercise (Kokkonen, Nelson & Cornwell, 1998). More specifically, studies have observed stretching-induced decreases in power output in men and women (Cramer, Housh, Cobern, Back & Johnson, 2006) as a result of b oth static and dyna mic stretching.