RESEARCH ARTICLE
Effects of Static and Dynamic Stretching on Force Sense, Dynamic Flexibility and Reaction Time of Children
Dimitris Chatzopoulos1, *, Georgios Doganis1, Georgios Lykesas1, Nikolaos Koutlianos1, Christos Galazoulas1, Eleni Bassa1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2019Volume: 12
First Page: 22
Last Page: 27
Publisher ID: TOSSJ-12-22
DOI: 10.2174/1875399X01912010022
Article History:
Received Date: 16/05/2019Revision Received Date: 11/06/2019
Acceptance Date: 14/06/2019
Electronic publication date: 31/07/2019
Collection year: 2019
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Traditionally, stretching protocols are basic components of warm-up aiming to improve performance and reduce injuries. However, the literature suggests that different stretching protocols during warm-up may have diverse effects on performance.
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to compare the acute effects of three different stretching protocols on force sense, dynamic flexibility, reaction time and movement time.
Methods:
The study included twenty-five participants who were TaeKwonDo young male players (age = 11.78 ± 1.66 years.). All the participants performed one of the following protocols on different days: (a) 5 min jogging followed by 3 min Static Stretching (SS), (b) 5 min jogging followed by 3 min Dynamic Stretching (DS), and (c) 5 min jogging followed by 3 min of rest (NS). After the protocols, the participants performed the following measurements: (a) force-matching test at 20% maximal isometric voluntary contraction (force sense), (b) active straight leg raise test (dynamic flexibility) and (c) reaction and movement time test.
Results:
Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed no significant main effects on force sense. Furthermore, SS performed significantly better in dynamic flexibility in comparison to NS, and DS performed significantly better in terms of dynamic flexibility and movement time compared to SS.
Conclusion:
According to the results of the study, it seems that force sense is not affected by either SS or DS protocols (30 sec duration per muscle group). Moreover, it seems that DS in the warm-up is more appropriate than SS for activities requiring dynamic flexibility and movement time.
