title: The effects of stretching on the flexibility, muscle performance and functionality of institutionalized older women.
abstract: Stretching has been widely used to increase the range of motion. We assessed the effects of a stretching program on muscle-tendon length, flexibility, torque, and activities of daily living of institutionalized older women. Inclusion/exclusion criteria were according to Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) (>13), Barthel Index (>13) and Lysholm Scoring Scale (>84). Seventeen 67 ± 9 year-old elderly women from a nursing home were divided into 2 groups at random: the control group (CG, N = 9) participated in enjoyable cultural activities; the stretching group (SG, N = 8) performed active stretching of hamstrings, 4 bouts of 1 min each. Both groups were supervised three times per week over a period of 8 weeks. Peak torque was assessed by an isokinetic method. Both groups were evaluated by a photogrammetric method to assess muscle-tendon length of uni- and biarticular hip flexors and hamstring flexibility. All measurements were analyzed before and after 8 weeks by two-way ANOVA with the level of significance set at 5%. Hamstring flexibility increased by 30% in the SG group compared to pre-training (76.5 ± 13.0° vs 59.5 ± 9.0°, P = 0.0002) and by 9.2% compared to the CG group (76.5 ± 13.0° vs 64.0 ± 12.0°, P = 0.0018). Muscle-tendon lengths of hip biarticular flexor muscles (124 ± 6.8° vs 118.3 ± 7.6°, 5.0 ± 7.0%, P = 0.031) and eccentric knee extensor peak torque were decreased in the CG group compared to pre-test values (-49.4 ± 16.8 vs -60.5 ± 18.9 Nm, -15.7 ± 20%, P = 0.048). The stretching program was sufficient to increase hamstring flexibility and a lack of stretching can cause reduction of muscle performance.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisioterapia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Matinhos, PR, Brasil. danigallon@hotmail.com
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gallon
authors.forename: A L F
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Rodacki
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Hernandez
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Drabovski
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Outi
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Bittencourt
authors.forename: A R S
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Gomes
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D052580:Muscle Stretching Exercises / Q000379:methods*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D018583:Pliability / Q000502:physiology*; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology*; D013710:Tendons / Q000502:physiology