THE EFFECT OF THE WARM UP AND STRETCHING EXERCISES ON PROPRIOCEPTION

Abstract

Proprioceptive assessment and rehabilitation has been one of the most important issues of sports medicine practice for the last twenty years. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of stretching and warm up exercises on motor control, coordination, postural control and proprioception. Twenty-one sedentary male subjects were selected for the study. Each subject has participated in warm up, stretching, warm up- stretching and control tests. The order of the tests was determined randomly for each subject. Immediately following the exercises, stabilometric measurements were done; compound balance losses and oscillation scores were recorded. Student t-test was used for statistical analysis. At the 10th, 20th and 30th sec of the stabilometric tests, compound balance losses were found to be significantly less in the ‘stretching’ and ‘warm up-stretching’ groups than in the control group (p<0.05). Concerning the oscillation values, there were no significant differences between the four groups, but lower oscillation scores were found in the ‘stretching’ and ‘warm up-stretching’ groups. In conclusion, stretching and warm up exercises decrease balance losses and oscillations. Repeated stretching exercises improve joint range of motion. Probably, muscle spindles become more sensitive to muscle length changes, so that conscious and reflex muscle contraction speed and power increase due to increased nerve transmission. All these factors contribute to decreased balance losses and postural sways.