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Which has the greater affect on hamstring flexibility – compressions or stretching?

Sloman, Emma and Annetts, Susan 2014. Which has the greater affect on hamstring flexibility – compressions or stretching? Presented at: Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Congress 2014 ., International Conference Centre, Birmingham, UK, 10-11 October 2014.

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Abstract

Sports massage is an approach used by physiotherapists to increase the flexibility of target muscles. However, the effects of sports massage remain inconclusive (Best et al, 2008; Weerapong et al, 2005). A specific sports massage technique thought to enhance flexibility is compression massage, but there seems to be no research focusing specifically on this topic to date. An alternative option for enhancing flexibility is static stretching. Stretching literature has tended to focus on performance, recognising there does seem to be evidence to support use of static stretching (Behm and Chaouachi, 2011; Shrier, 2004). This study was conducted to inform physiotherapy practice with regard to enhancing hamstring flexibility, with a unique focus on compression massage. A convenience sample (n = 16) from an adult student population. The exclusion criteria were lower limb injury in the last 3 months, history of back pain, pregnancy, and current participation in a stretching programme. A same subject crossover design, counterbalanced with a washout period of 24 hours, was utilised. The outcome measure used was the sit and reach test as there is support for its reliability and validity (Davis et al, 2008). The static stretching condition was teaching the participant a “hurdlers stretch”. The compression condition was applied to the musculo-tendinous junction. For each condition the pre-test mean was subtracted from the post-test mean. Descriptive and statistical analysis (Wilcoxon signed rank test) was conducted. Mean difference between pre and post test conditions for static stretching was 1.28cm (S.D.±1.21), and for compression massage was 2.19cm (S. D ±1.66). (p = 0.016) Compression massage seems to have a greater impact on hamstring flexibility than static stretching.

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Poster)
Date Type: Completion
Status: Unpublished
Schools: Healthcare Sciences
Subjects: R Medicine > RZ Other systems of medicine
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 30 March 2016
Last Modified: 04 Jun 2017 07:57
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/70657

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