Effect of Static Stretching on Amelioration of Delayed Muscle Soreness and Muscle Fatigue

Research Project

Project/Area Number	63580098
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	体育学
Research Institution	Yamaguchi University
Principal Investigator	MINAGAWA Takashi The Faculty of Liberal Arts Professor, 教養部, 教授 (50035143)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	TAN Nobusuke The Faculty of Liberal Arts Lecturer, 教養部, 講師 (00179920) SUGIURA Takao The Faculty of Liberal Arts Assist Prof, 教養部, 助教授 (80136150) KAWAI Yosuke The Faculty of Liberal Arts Professor, 教養部, 教授 (00035148)
Project Period (FY)	1988 – 1989
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1990)
Budget Amount *help	¥2,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000) Fiscal Year 1989: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000) Fiscal Year 1988: ¥1,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000)
Keywords	Static stretching / Delayed muscle soreness / Muscle fatigue / Eccentric contraction / H-reflex / ストレッチング / 重量負荷運動 / 遅発性筋痛
Research Abstract	The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of static stretching (1) on delayed muscle soreness (DMS) and muscle fatigue, and (2) on change of motoneuron pool excitability after muscle stretching. Five untrained college students performed 80 times of eccentric contraction of the non-dominant elbow flexor, which was loaded with a weight. Each of the subjects performed the exercises under three different conditions : stretching the muscle at five minutes before, at five minutes after, and at 24th after the exercise, and another exercise without static stretching. Maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) and low frequency fatigue (20Hz/50Hz) began to decline immediately after the exercise and reached minimum values at two hours and 35min respectively, and then both recovered to pre-exercise values at 72h after the exercise. Integrated electromyogram of the biceps brachii during 20%MVC showed a considerable increase, and did not recover pre-exercise values at the end of measurement (72h). Muscle pain was maximal at approximately 24h after and remained until 72h after the exercise. Serum creatine kinase activity as a marker of muscle damage indicated significant increase only at 12h after the exercise. In each of these responses, the difference of means, found in the exercises with and without static stretching, remained insignificant for 72h immediately after the exercise. The effect of static stretching on the motoneuron excitability of the soleus muscles was examined with Hoffman reflex during rest after muscle stretch in three normal subjects. The H-reflex response did not change for 33min after stretching. As a result, it is possible to say that static stretching does not affect alleviation of exercise induced DMS, recovery of muscle fatigue and motor pool excitability after muscle stretch.