Abstract
Purpose
Recent studies raise an interesting possibility that resistance exercise also decreases passive muscle stiffness, as does stretching exercise. However, little is known about how program variables of resistance exercise acutely influence muscle stiffness. We aimed to examine the acute changes in passive stiffness of the individual hamstring muscles after resistance exercises using different combinations of contraction modes and ranges of motion (ROMs).
Methods
Thirteen healthy young male participants performed three sessions of resistance exercises that comprised stiff-leg deadlift with different contraction modes and exercise ROMs on separate days as follows: (1) eccentric contractions with a wide exercise ROM (EW); (2) eccentric contractions with a narrow exercise ROM (EN); and (3) concentric contractions with a wide exercise ROM (CW). Maximal joint ROM, passive torque, shear modulus of the individual hamstring muscles, and maximal isometric torque of knee flexion were measured before and 3 min, 30 min, and 60 min after completing each session.
Results
The shear modulus of the semimembranosus was significantly lower at 3 min post-exercise (121.8 ± 16.0 kPa) than at pre-exercise (129.0 ± 18.9 kPa, p = 0.021, r = 0.45) in EW, but not in EN or CW. There were no significant changes in the shear moduli of the biceps femoris long head or the semitendinosus at any timepoint in any exercise protocols.
Conclusions
The present results suggest that the combination of eccentric contraction and wide ROM during resistance exercise has the potential to acutely decrease passive stiffness (shear modulus) of a specific muscle.
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Availability of data and materials
The data sets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Code availability
Information on software application is available upon reasonable request.
Change history
05 July 2022
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-04999-z
Abbreviations
- BFlh:
-
Biceps femoris long head
- CW:
-
Concentric contraction with wide range of motion
- EN:
-
Eccentric contraction with narrow range of motion
- EW:
-
Eccentric contraction with wide range of motion
- RMS :
-
Root-mean-square
- ROM:
-
Range of motion
- SDL:
-
Stiff-leg deadlift
- SM:
-
Semimembranosus
- ST:
-
Semitendinosus
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a grant of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (no. 21J20128).
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This work was supported by a grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (no. 21J20128).
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RK, TH, and TW conceived and designed the study. RK conducted the experiments, analyzed the data, and wrote the original draft. KY, TH, and TW reviewed and edited the original draft. All authors read and approved the manuscript.
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The present study was approved by the Doshisha University Research Ethics Review Committee regarding Human Subject Research (number: 21006). All experimental procedures involving human participants were in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable standards.
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Kawama, R., Yanase, K., Hojo, T. et al. Acute changes in passive stiffness of the individual hamstring muscles induced by resistance exercise: effects of contraction mode and range of motion. Eur J Appl Physiol 122, 2071–2083 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-04976-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-04976-6