1Department of Healthcare and Public Health Research, National Rehabilitation Research Institute, National Rehabilitation Center, Republic of Korea
2Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Pusan National University, School of Medicine, Research Institute for Convergence of Biomedical Science and Technology, Republic of Korea
3 Department of Occupational Therapy, Semyung University, Republic of Korea
The aim of this study was to determine the effect of various modified contractrelax PNF techniques on the immediate change of angle of active knee extension (AKE).
Thirty healthy adults participated in this study. Before intervention, all subjects measured the AKE angle. After the measurements, the subjects received a randomized order of traditional contract-relaxation (TCR), modified contract-relax 1 (MCR 1), and modified contract-relax 2 (MCR 2) at day intervals. TCR contracted right knee flexors, MCR 1 contracted left biceps, and MCR 2 co-contracted right knee flexors and contraction of left biceps. Measurements of AKE angle were evaluated immediately after three techniques trial.
Three contract-relax PNF techniques showed significant improvement compared to AKE angle of baseline. There was no significant difference between MCR 2 and MCR 1, but there was a significant difference from TCR in AKE angle. MCR 1 showed no significant difference from TCR in AKE angle.
These findings demonstrate that contract-relax PNF techniques can have a greater immediate effect as the concentration of muscle co-contraction.
PNF, Contract-Relax, Active Knee Extension, Stretching
