The effect of stretching during warming-up on the flexibility of junior handball players.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the investigation was to examine in field conditions the acute effects of warming-up on lower extremity joints and trunk flexibility in junior team handball players.


METHODS
Forty-seven junior team handball players participated in this study forming an experiment (n=32) and a control group (n=15). The first group performed warming-up and stretching exercises (20 min) whereas the second group only performed warming-up exercises. Passive range of joint motion was determined in hip flexion, hip extension, hip abduction, knee flexion, ankle dorsiflexion and the trunk flexion using a goniometer and a flexometer.


RESULTS
The warming-up session induced a significantly increased range in all lower extremity joints and trunk flexion (p<0.01 to p<0.001) of both groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Flexibility improves as a result of muscle elongation during warming-up or even through an incorporated pathetic stretching program.
Zakas
A
A
Department of Physical Education and Sports Science, Division of Sports, Laboratory of Coaching, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece. azakas@phed.auth.gr
Vergou
A
A
Grammatikopoulou
M G
MG
Zakas
N
N
Sentelidis
T
T
Vamvakoudis
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000843:Ankle Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006621:Hip Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D008161:Lumbosacral Region / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D018583:Pliability; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology*; D013177:Sports / Q000502:physiology*