The effect of stretching on muscle activity
Item
- Title
- The effect of stretching on muscle activity
- Author(s)
- McDonald Morwenna
- Abstract
- The aim of this study was to compare the effects of Muscle energy technique (MET) and static stretch (SS) on hamstrings muscle activity as measured by electromyography (EMG). 24 subjects (12 males and 12 females) from the student population of the British College of Naturopathy and Osteopathy participated in this study. A case - control study design was used. Subjects were randomly allocated into the control procedure, MET procedure or SS procedure. There were 8 subjects in each group The surface electromyography biofeedback machine was used to measure EMG activity of the right hamstrings. EMG recordings were taken before intervention: a PIR MET involving 3 repetitions and 20% of maximal voluntary contraction, a 1 minute static stretch or 1 minuterest (control). EMG recordings were then taken after intervention. An analysis of variance (anova) revealed that MET produced a significant decrease in EMG activity (p < 0.05). Static stretch produced increases and slight decreases in EMG activity, however, an anova, proved these results to be insignificant (p >0.05). The control group showed an overall decrease in EMG activity although insignificant (p> 0.05). It was concluded that application of MET to the hamstrings is effective in reducing EMG activity. Static stretch and control groups exhibited both decreases and increases in EMG activity although these results were found to be insignificant. It was found that EMG activity decreased over time as the subject lay in a relaxed position. However these results can only be considered approximate due to the inaccuracies inherent in EMG. Key Words MET, SS, EMG, Osteopathy, Golgi Tendon Organ, Viscoelastic Stress Relaxation, Hoffman Reflex, Hamstrings
- presented at
- British College of Osteopathic Medicine
- Date Accepted
- 2002
- Date Submitted
- 1.11.2003 00:00:00
- Type
- undergraduate_project
- Language
- English
- Number of pages
- 61
- Submitted by:
- 62
- Pub-Identifier
- 13009
- Inst-Identifier
- 1076
- Keywords
- Muscles,Stretching,Muscle energy techniques (MET),Electromyography,EMG
- Recommended
- 0
- Item sets
- Thesis
McDonald Morwenna, “The effect of stretching on muscle activity”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed May 4, 2025, https://www.osteopathicresearch.org/s/orw/item/1329