ACUTE EFFECTS OF STRETCHING EXERCISE MODALITIES ON UPPER AND LOWER EXTREMITY STRENGTH PARAMETERS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the acute effects of static, dynamic and PNF stretching exercises on isokinetic strength parameters. Twenty two volleyball players (18.5 ± 1.1 yrs old, 189.5 ± 6.0 cm tall, weighing 77.2 ± 9.3 kg, with a BMI of 21.5 ± 2.2 kg/m2) participated in this study voluntarily. Isokinetic strength measurements were taken in the concentric mode at 60°/s and 300°/s. Participants ran/jogged on a treadmill for 5 min during the warm-up periods, and then randomly performed three sets of 30 s static, dynamic or passive PNF stretching exercises with 20 s intervals, for the shoulder and knee joints, on different days. According to statistical analyses, right shoulder internal rotation peak torque values at 60°/s and external rotation peak torque scores at 300°/s following static stretching; and left shoulder internal rotation peak torque scores at 60°/s following dynamic stretching were statistically higher than those obtained following PNF stretching (p<0.05). No statistical significance were found among peak torque values obtained for both knees’ extension/flexion at 60°/s and 300°/s, following the three different stretching modalities. As a result, the findings of the study indicated that PNF stretching exercises might cause decreases in dominant and non-dominant shoulder muscle strength at 60°/s and 300°/s, comparing with those obtained following dynamic and static stretching.