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Muscle-specific acute changes in passive stiffness of human triceps surae after stretching

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Abstract

Purpose

It remains unclear whether the acute effect of stretching on passive muscle stiffness differs among the synergists. We examined the muscle stiffness responses of the medial (MG) and lateral gastrocnemii (LG), and soleus (Sol) during passive dorsiflexion before and after a static stretching by using ultrasound shear wave elastography.

Methods

Before and after a 5-min static stretching by passive dorsiflexion, shear modulus of the triceps surae and the Achilles tendon (AT) during passive dorsiflexion in the knee extended position were measured in 12 healthy subjects.

Results

Before the static stretching, shear modulus was the greatest in MG and smallest in Sol. The stretching induced significant reductions in shear modulus of MG, but not in shear modulus of LG and Sol. The slack angle was observed at more plantar flexed position in the following order: AT, MG, LG, and Sol. After the stretching, the slack angles of each muscle and AT were significantly shifted to more dorsiflexed positions with a similar extent. When considering the shift in slack angle, the change in MG shear modulus became smaller.

Conclusion

The present study indicates that passive muscle stiffness differs among the triceps surae, and that the acute effect of a static stretching is observed only in the stiff muscle. However, a large part of the reduction of passive muscle stiffness at a given joint angle could be due to an increase in the slack length.

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Abbreviations

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

AT:

Achilles tendon

EMG:

Electromyography

LG:

Lateral gastrocnemius

MG:

Medial gastrocnemius

MTU:

Muscle–tendon unit

MVC:

Maximal voluntary contraction

RMS:

Root mean square

ROM:

Range of motion

Sol:

Soleus

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 25702038.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya, 1 Shiromizu, Kanoya, Kagoshima, 891-2311, Japan

    Kosuke Hirata, Eri Miyamoto-Mikami, Hiroaki Kanehisa & Naokazu Miyamoto

  2. Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan

    Eri Miyamoto-Mikami

Authors
  1. Kosuke Hirata
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  2. Eri Miyamoto-Mikami
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  3. Hiroaki Kanehisa
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  4. Naokazu Miyamoto
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Naokazu Miyamoto.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Communicated by Olivier Seynnes.

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Hirata, K., Miyamoto-Mikami, E., Kanehisa, H. et al. Muscle-specific acute changes in passive stiffness of human triceps surae after stretching. Eur J Appl Physiol 116, 911–918 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-016-3349-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-016-3349-3

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