Abstract
Purpose
Muscle stretching effect on the range of motion (ROM) and force deficit in non-stretched muscle, and the underlying mechanisms, is an ongoing issue. This study aimed to investigate crossover stretching effects and mechanisms on the plantar flexor muscles.
Methods
Fourteen recreationally active females (n = 5) and males (n = 9) performed six sets of 45-s static stretching (SS) (15-s recovery) to the point of discomfort of the dominant leg (DL) plantar flexors or control (345-s rest). Participants were tested for a single 5-s pre- and post-test maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) with each plantar flexor muscle and were tested for DL and non-DL ROM. They were tested pre- and post-test (immediate, 10-s, 30-s) for the Hoffman (H)-reflex and motor-evoked potentials (MEP) from transcranial magnetic stimulation in the contralateral, non-stretched muscle.
Results
Both the DL and non-DL-MVIC force had large magnitude, significant (↓10.87%, p = 0.027, pƞ2 = 0.4) and non-significant (↓9.53%, p = 0.15, pƞ2 = 0.19) decreases respectively with SS. The SS also significantly improved the DL (6.5%, p < 0.001) and non-DL (5.35%, p = 0.002) ROM. The non-DL MEP/MMax and HMax/MMax ratio did not change significantly.
Conclusion
Prolonged static stretching improved the stretched muscle’s ROM. However, the stretched limb's force was negatively affected following the stretching protocol. The ROM improvement and large magnitude force impairment (statistically non-significant) were transferred to the contralateral muscles. The lack of significant changes in spinal and corticospinal excitability confirms that the afferent excitability of the spinal motoneurons and corticospinal excitability may not play a substantial role in non-local muscle's ROM or force output responses.
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Data availability
All data will be made available on request to the corresponding author.
Code availability
Not applicable.
Abbreviations
- DL:
-
Dominant leg
- EMG:
-
Electromyography
- HMax :
-
Maximal amplitude Hoffman reflex
- H-reflex:
-
Hoffman reflex
- MEP:
-
Motor-evoked potential
- MMax :
-
Maximal amplitude motor action potential wave
- M-Wave:
-
Muscle action potential wave
- MVIC:
-
Maximal voluntary isometric contraction
- Non-DL:
-
Non-dominant leg
- ROM:
-
Range of motion
- SS:
-
Static stretching
- TMS:
-
Transcranial magnetic stimulation
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by grants from Dr. David Behm’s Discovery Grant from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada and Dr. Andreas Konrad (Project J 4484) from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF).
Funding
This study was supported by grants from Dr. David Behm’s Discovery Grant from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Dr. Andreas Konrad (Project J 4484) from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). Andreas Konrad, Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, RGPIN-2017-03728, David George Behm
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SHA, SA, and DB were involved in the idea conception. SHA and SA collaborated on organizing the data collection. SHA analyzed the data. All authors aided in the interpretation of the data. SHA wrote the first version of the article, which was then reviewed by all other authors. All authors contributed to the article, approved the submitted version, and read and approved the final manuscript.
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Anvar, S.H., Granacher, U., Konrad, A. et al. Corticospinal excitability and reflex modulation in a contralateral non-stretched muscle following unilateral stretching. Eur J Appl Physiol 123, 1837–1850 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-023-05200-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-023-05200-9