title: Acute effects of static and dynamic stretching on hamstrings' response times.
abstract: The main purposes of this study were to (a) investigate acute effects of static and dynamic lower limb stretching routines on total response time, pre-motor time and motor time of the medial and lateral hamstrings during maximal eccentric isokinetic knee flexion; and (b) determine whether static and dynamic routines elicit similar responses. A total of 38 active adults completed the following intervention protocols in a randomised order on separate days: (a) non-stretching (control condition), (b) static stretching and (c) dynamic stretching. After the stretching or control intervention, total response time, pre-motor time and motor time of the medial and lateral hamstrings were assessed during eccentric knee flexion movements with participants prone. Measures were compared via a mixed-design factorial ANOVA. There were no main effects for total response time, pre-motor time and motor time. The results suggest that dynamic and static stretching has no influence on hamstrings response times (total response time, pre-motor time and motor time) and hence neither form of stretching reduces this primary risk factor for anterior cruciate ligament injury.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Education , ISEN University Formation, University of Murcia , Murcia , Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ayala
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Ste Croix
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sainz de Baranda
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Santonja
mesh_terms: D000070598:Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007718:Knee Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D052580:Muscle Stretching Exercises / Q000379:methods*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D013848:Thigh / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult