title: Effects of a Thermal Agent and Physical Activity on Muscle Tendon Stiffness, as Well as the Effects Combined With Static Stretching.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A recent review or article reported that thermal agents (TA) or physical activity (PA) can increase range of motion (ROM) and that the combination of TA with stretching is superior to performing stretching only. However, since ROM is affected by the psychological factors, it is questionable whether these studies measured the effect of these interventions on muscle flexibility. By measuring muscle stiffness, the authors attempted to evaluate the effect these interventions on muscle flexibility.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To compare the individual effects of TA and PA on muscle flexibility, as well as their effectiveness when combined with static stretching (SS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Crossover trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  University research laboratory.
  
  
  METHODS
  15 healthy men without a history of orthopedic disease in their lower limbs.
  
  
  METHODS
  15 minutes of 3 different conditions: hot pack as TA, pedaling exercise as PA, and the control group with no TA or PA intervention, followed by 3 min of SS for the hamstrings.
  
  
  METHODS
  Joint angle and passive torque of the knee during passive elongation were obtained prior to interventions, after 3 kinds of intervention, and after SS. From these data, muscle-tendon-unit (MTU) stiffness of the hamstrings was calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although knee-joint ROM increased with both TA and PA (P < .05), there were no significant differences in MTU stiffness between pre- and postintervention measurements for either of the interventions (TA, P = .477; PA, P = .377; control, P = .388). However, there were similar significant decreases in MTU stiffness between postintervention and post-SS for all conditions (P < .01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  TA and PA did not decrease MTU stiffness, and combining these interventions with SS did not provide additional decreases in MTU stiffness compared with performing SS alone.
authors.forename: Kosuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Umegaki
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nishishita
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Satoko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ibuki
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ichihashi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D000070633:Hamstring Muscles / Q000502:physiology*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D052580:Muscle Stretching Exercises; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D013710:Tendons / Q000502:physiology*; D019415:Torque; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: athletic therapy; bicycle ergometry; muscle flexibility; physiology; range of motion; thermotherapy