Relative static stretch-induced impairments and dynamic stretch-induced enhancements are similar in young and middle-aged men

• Published in: Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism nutrition, and metabolism, 2011-12, Vol.36 (6), p.790-797
• Main Authors: BEHM, David G, PLEWE, Sebastian, GRAGE, Philip, RABBANI, Alireza, TAGHI BEIGI, Hamid, BYRNE, Jeannette M, BUTTON, Duane C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; ageing; Aging; Athletic Injuries - prevention & control; Athletic Performance; balance; Biological and medical sciences; Demographic aspects; Equilibrium (Physiology); Exercise; Flexibility; flexibilité; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human performance; Humans; Intervention; Lower Extremity; Male; Men; Middle Aged; Muscle Stretching Exercises - adverse effects; Muscle Stretching Exercises - methods; Muscle, Skeletal - physiology; Organ Specificity; Physical Fitness; Physiological aspects; Postural Balance; power; Psychomotor Performance; puissance; Range of Motion, Articular; Reaction Time; Stretching exercises; Surveys and Questionnaires; Variance analysis; Vertebrates: body movement. Posture. Locomotion. Flight. Swimming. Physical exercise. Rest. Sports; vieillissement; warm-up; Young Adult; échauffement; équilibre
• ISSN: 1715-5312; 1715-5320
• DOI: 10.1139/h11-107

Middle-aged individuals may not respond in a similar manner as younger individuals. The study’s objective was to examine the effect of static (SS) and dynamic stretching (DS) in young and middle-aged men on subsequent performance. Ten young (22 ± 1.4 years) and 8 middle-aged men (46.3 ± 6.5 years) participated in 3 conditions consisting of SS (4 × 30 s for right and left quadriceps, hamstrings, and plantar flexors), DS (8 × 30 s of bilateral butt kicks, walking lunges, and plantar flexors) and control. Dependent variables included sit and reach, hip extension flexibility, countermovement jump (CMJ) height, drop jump (DJ) height, static balance, reaction (RT) and movement time (MT). Measurements were taken pre-intervention, post- and 10 min post-intervention. A 3-way repeated measurement ANOVA revealed that the younger men had higher jump heights, faster RT and MT, and greater flexibility than the middle-aged men. DS significantly enhanced DJ (p = 0.04) and CMJ (p = 0.006) height compared with SS and control conditions. SS (p