Passive mechanical properties of the musculo-articular complex are classically studied using passive torque-angle curves. However, the mechanical properties of each structure of this musculo-articular complex (e.g., muscle, tendon) cannot be dissociated from this relationship. We recently showed that supersonic shear imaging is able to accurately quantify muscle shear elastic modulus of one mus...

PURPOSE People vary in flexibility regarding maximum joint angle, resistance to stretch and mechanical responses during stretching exercises. Body composition (BC) has been been mentioned as one of the factors for flexibility differences. The aim of this study was to determine how body composition and anthropometric measures of the lower limb is associated with passive knee extension (PKE) torq...

Stretching a muscle not only increases the extensibility or range of motion (ROM) stretched joint but there is growing evidence increased ROM contralateral and other non-local muscles joints. The objective this meta-analysis was to quantify crossover changes in passive following an acute bout unilateral stretching examine potential dose–response relations. Eleven studies involving 14 independen...

Muscle strain is still awanting a noninvasive quantitatively diagnosis tool. High frequency ultrasound (HFU) improves image resolution for monitoring changes of tissue structures, but the biomechanical factors may influence ultrasonography during injury detection. We aim to illustrate the ultrasonic parameters to present the histological damage of overstretched muscle with the consideration of ...

Stretching is a stimulation of muscle growth. Stretching for hours or days has an effect on muscle hypertrophy. However, differences of continuous stretching and repetitive stretching to affect muscle growth are not well known. To clarify the difference of continuous and repetitive stretching within a short duration, we investigated the gene expression of muscle-related genes on stretched skele...

Spasticity is one of the main causes of contracture, muscle weakness and subsequent functional incapacity. The passive static stretching can be included as having the purpose of increasing musculoskeletal flexibility, however, it also can influence the muscle torque. The objective is to verify the immediate effect of passive static stretching in the muscle strength of healthy and those who pres...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the effect of different durations of stretching (five or 15 seconds) on active and passive range of motion (ROM) in the lower extremity during a five week flexibility training programme. METHOD Twenty four university sport club members (19 men, five women), with a mean (SD) age of 20.5 (1.35) years, were randomly assigned to one of three groups (two treatment and one...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate Mulligan's technique for relieving pain and improving functional capacity of the shoulder in patients with adhesive capsulitis in the stiffness phase. DESIGN Randomized controlled study. METHODS A total of 40 subjects were randomly allocated into 2 groups: (i) group 1 (n = 20) were treated with hot pack, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, and passive stretchi...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of hippotherapy (physical therapy utilizing the movement of a horse) on muscle activity in children with spastic cerebral palsy. DESIGN Pretest/post-test control group. SETTING/LOCATION Therapeutic Riding of Tucson (TROT), Tucson, AZ. SUBJECTS Fifteen (15) children ranging from 4 to 12 years of age diagnosed with spastic cerebral palsy. INTERVENTIONS Chi...