BACKGROUND Children with spastic cerebral palsy experience increased muscle stiffness and reduced muscle length, which may prevent elongation of the muscle during stretch. Stretching performed either by the clinician, or children themselves is used as a treatment modality to increase/maintain joint range of motion. It is not clear whether the associated increases in muscle-tendon unit length ar...

[Purpose] This study investigated the effects of hamstring stretching on leg rotation during active knee extension. [Subjects] Subjects were 100 bilateral legs of 50 healthy women without articular disease. [Methods] Hamstring hardness, leg rotation and muscle activities of the knee extensors during active knee extension were measured before and after hamstring stretching. [Results] Hamstring h...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect that respiratory muscle stretching using the global postural reeducation (GPR) method has on respiratory muscle strength, thoracic expansion and abdominal mobility in sedentary young males. METHODS This was a randomized study involving 20 sedentary volunteers, aged 22.7 +/- 2.5 years, divided into two groups of 10: a control group, composed of subjects not per...

The purpose of this study was to compare the acute effects of general, specific and combined warm-up (WU) on explosive performance. Healthy male (n = 10) subjects participated in six WU protocols in a crossover randomized study design. Protocols were: passive rest (PR; 15 min of passive rest), running (Run; 5 min of running at 70% of maximum heart rate), stretching (STR; 5 min of static stretch...

BACKGROUND Physical activity (PA) is recommended for managing osteoarthritis (OA). However, few people with OA are physically active. Understanding the factors associated with PA is necessary to increase PA in this population. This cross-sectional study examined factors associated with leisure-time PA, stretching exercises, and strengthening exercises in people with OA. METHODS For a mail sur...

Congenital Muscular Torticollis (CMT) is a congenital deformity characterized by unilateral shortening of the sternocleidomastoid muscle resulting in lateral inclination of the neck associated with contralateral torsion. It is a relatively common infantile deformity associated with typically favourable prognosis when early detected and treated. Although stretching exercises is still the most co...

OBJECTIVE To study the effect of manual therapy and stretching on neck function in women with chronic neck pain. METHODS A total of 125 women were randomized into 2 groups. Group 1 received manual therapy twice a week for 4 weeks followed by stretching exercises. Group 2 performed stretching 5 times a week for 4 weeks followed by manual therapy. Neck function was assessed by isometric neck st...

Rehabilitation is one of important treatments for postural deformities in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Various possible mechanisms have been suggested. Among these, soft tissue changes such as reduced flexibility and muscle weakness and proprioceptive disintegration that likely induce impaired vertical perception seem to be partially improved by rehabilitation. For soft tissue changes, st...

PURPOSE To assess the effect of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) for healthy participants with hamstring tightness. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study was performed at a university rehabilitation hospital. Twenty nine healthy adults with hamstring tightness were enrolled and randomly allocated into four groups (ESWT, stretching exercise, ESWT with stretching exercise, and control). The ...