Efficacy of Hamstring Stretching According to the Neural or Muscle Tissue Involvement

Efficacy of Hamstring Stretching According to the Neural or Muscle Tissue Involvement

Background: Muscle stretching is a technique widely used in the clinical practice of physiotherapy and in the field of sports. In the bibliography we find a multitude of stretches and procedures described, some of them being similar to neurodynamic tests, which could direct their effect to a neural and not a musculoskeletal structure. The structural differentiation manoeuvre has been shown to be able to discriminate the increase in tension on the nerve.

Objective: To evaluate the short-term efficacy on ischiosural muscle elongation of three modalities of ischiosural stretching according to neural or muscular involvement, in subjects without previous pathology.

Design: Cross sectional study. Methods: A randomised, blinded, assessor-blinded clinical trial was performed. According to the sample size calculation, a total of 35 subjects will be recruited from the International University of Catalonia. Each subject will undergo three hamstring stretching techniques on their dominant leg, Straight-leg-raise (SLR), Passive knee extension (PKE) and Maximun hip flexion (MHF) with an interval of one week on the dominant leg. Muscle elongation in each stretching modality will be assessed with the modified black saver sit and reach test and whether the technique generates a neural or musculoskeletal response when performing the structural differentiation manoeuvre.

Background: Muscle stretching is a technique widely used in the clinical practice of physiotherapy and in the field of sports. In the bibliography we find a multitude of stretches and procedures described, some of them being similar to neurodynamic tests, which could direct their effect to a neural and not a musculoskeletal structure. The structural differentiation manoeuvre has been shown to be able to discriminate the increase in tension on the nerve.

Objective: To evaluate the short-term efficacy on ischiosural muscle elongation of three modalities of ischiosural stretching according to neural or muscular involvement, in subjects without previous pathology.

Design: Cross sectional study.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy subjects over 18 years old who signed the informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

• The exclusion criteria were as follows: 1) injury in the thigh 6 months previously, 2) diagnosis of any orthopaedic problem or surgery in the lower limbs, 3) back pain or previous surgery in the spine or 4) systemic or neurological disorders.