Effect of stretch on improvement of muscular contractures in rats.
[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate how a stretching torque affects muscular contractures. [Subjects] The subjects of this study were 48 male Wistar rats. [Methods] Subjects were divided into 4 groups as follows: Group 1 was the control; Group 2 had muscles in continuous fixation; Group 3 had muscles stretched in the direction of dorsiflexion by a spring balancer set at a torque of 0.3N for a period of 30 minutes after continuous fixation; and Group 4 had muscles stretched in the direction of dorsiflexion by a spring balancer set at a torque of 3.0N for a period of 30 minutes after continuous fixation. Joint fixation periods were for 2 and 4-weeks. Ankle joint range of motion and soleus flexibility were analyzed. [Results] For the 2-week joint fixation, soleus flexibility in Group 4 showed an increase compared with that of Group 3. For both fixation periods, range of motion in Group 4 showed an increase compared with that of Group 3. [Conclusion] For both fixation periods, stretching improved joint range of motion. In the 2-week joint fixation, soleus flexibility improved. However, soleus flexibility did not improve in the 4-week joint fixation.
Graduate School of Comprehensive Scientific Research, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Japan.
Hideki
H
Ishikura
Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Japan.
Takeya
T
Ono
Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Japan.
Sadaaki
S
Oki
Graduate School of Comprehensive Scientific Research, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Japan.
Yasukazu
Y
Saito
Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Japan.
Namiko
N
Umei
Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Japan.
Wakako
W
Tsumiyama
Department of Physical Therapy, Osaka Yukioka College of Health Scinece, Japan.
Atsushi
A
Tasaka
Graduate School of Comprehensive Scientific Research, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Japan.
Kazuki
K
Aihara
Graduate School of Comprehensive Scientific Research, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Japan.
Yuta
Y
Sato
Graduate School of Comprehensive Scientific Research, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Japan.
Tomohiro
T
Matsumoto
Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Japan.
Akira
A
Otsuka
Muscular contracture; Muscular flexibility; Stretching