A Comparison Study of 3 Stretching Protocols on Hamstrings Length

Hamstring stretching is an important part of treatment programs aimed at decreasing the likelihood of hamstring injury. The purpose of this study was to determine whether application of cryostretch, or cryostretch following Hold relax PNF, or only static stretch increases the extensibility of hamstrings among healthy subjects.

Design- 3 group comparison study, Sample size- 10 in each group, Sampling method- random sampling (lottery method), Study period- 1 year, Method- this study examined 30 male subjects, aged 17–28. Subjects received the following treatments: Go 1(Group 1) - 30 seconds of only manual stretching for hamstrings muscle, Go 2- 10 minutes of ice application followed by 30 seconds of hamstring stretching Go 3- 10 minutes of ice application followed by 30 seconds of stretching using hold-relax PNF technique. All the 3 groups underwent hamstring stretch 3 times. 5 sessions were given.

Pre- and post-treatment measurements of hamstring length were obtained using AKE test and SLR test.

Baseline charters were explained, the three study groups were compared using Kruskal-wallis test. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Go1 and Go2 showed a statistically significant improvement in the mean rise of both SLR and AKE. In the comparison made between the variables it was found that SLR showed a statistically significant rise between treatment periods among all subjects.

Application of manual stretch alone or cryostretch can be used as a handy therapeutic technique in improving hamstrings flexibility among healthy young adults.