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Published on: April 18, 2011
Acute Passive Static Stretching and Cramp Threshold Frequency
Gino Panza1, Justin Stadler2, Donal Murray1
1George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.
Context:
Exercise-associated muscle cramps are a common clinical problem for athletes.
Objective:
To determine whether acute passive static stretching altered cramp threshold frequency (CTF) of electrically induced muscle cramps.
Design:
Crossover study.
Setting:
Laboratory.
Patients Or Other Participants:
Seventeen healthy college-aged individuals.
Intervention(S):
Stretching or no stretching.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
The independent variable was the static stretch versus the no-stretch condition, and the dependent variable was the CTF.
Results:
The CTF increased in both the control (pretest: 18.12 ± 6.46 Hz, posttest: 19.65 ± 7.25 Hz; P = .033) and stretching (pretest: 18.94 ± 5.96 Hz, posttest: 20.47 ± 7.12 Hz; P = .049) groups. No difference between the groups was found (t15 = 0.035, P = .97).
Conclusions:
Acute passive static stretching did not seem to increase the CTF.
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