Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine the acute effects of hamstring and
calf stretching on leg extension and flexion peak torque (PT) and the hamstrings-to-quadriceps
(H : Q) ratio during maximal, concentric isokinetic muscle actions at 60, 180, and
300° · s−1 in women. Thirteen women (mean age ± SD = 20.8 ± 1.8 yrs; height = 163.0 ± 5.7 cm;
mass = 64.0 ± 8.3 kg) performed 3 maximal concentric isokinetic leg extension and
flexion muscle actions at 3 randomly ordered angular velocities (60, 180, and 300° · s−1) before and after a bout of static stretching. The stretching protocol consisted
of 1 unassisted and 3 assisted static stretching exercises designed to stretch the
posterior muscles of the thigh and leg. Four repetitions of each stretch were held
for 30 s with 20 s rest between repetitions. The results indicated that leg flexion
PT decreased from pre- to post-stretching (34.9 ± 3.5 and 32.4 ± 3.2 Nm, respectively)
collapsed across velocity. However, no other changes were observed from pre- to post-stretching
for leg extension PT (78.5 ± 5.9 and 77.8 ± 5.5 Nm, respectively) and the H : Q ratio
(0.47 ± 0.04 and 0.44 ± 0.03, respectively). Our findings suggested that despite the
stretching-induced decreases in leg flexion PT, leg extension PT and the H : Q ratios
were unaltered by the stretching.
Key words
stretching‐induced - strength - muscle strain - muscle injury - knee injury - injury
risk
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Dr. Ph.D. Joel T. Cramer
University of Oklahoma
Health and Exercise Science
Norman, Oklahoma 73019
United States
Fax: + 1 40 53 25 05 94
eMail: jcramer@ou.edu
