Search results for " Stretching"

Fast increase of motor cortical inhibition following postural changes in healthy subjects.

2012

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Postural reactions are associated with changes in the excitability of the motor system. In the present study we investigated the presence of neurophysiological changes of motor cortical areas targeting muscles of the inferior limbs following treatment with a physiotherapy technique aimed to treat postural dysfunctions by stretching postural muscles, global postural reeducation (GPR). METHODS: Twenty healthy subjects were evaluated with paired-transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the motor cortex and recording of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) from peripheral muscles of the inferior limb before and after two GPR manoeuvres applied in different experiments (1 and 2)…

Strength training and stretching versus stretching only in the treatment of patients with chronic neck pain: a randomized one-year follow-up study

2008

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of a 12-month home-based combined strength training and stretching programme against stretching alone in the treatment of chronic neck pain. Design: A randomized follow-up study. Participants: One hundred and one patients with chronic non-specific neck pain were randomized in two groups. Intervention: The strength training and stretching group was supported by 10 group training sessions and the stretching group was instructed to perform stretching exercises only as instructed in one group session. Main outcome measurements: Neck pain, disability, neck muscle strength and mobility of cervical spine were measured before and after the intervention. Resu…

Postactivation potentiation can counteract declines in force and power that occur after stretching.

2016

Stretching can decrease a muscle's maximal force, whereas short but intense muscle contractions can increase it. We hypothesized that when combined, postactivation potentiation induced by reactive jumps would counteract stretch-induced decrements in drop jump (DJ) performance. Moreover, we measured changes in muscle twitch forces and ankle joint stiffness (KAnkle ) to examine underlying mechanisms. Twenty subjects completed three DJs and 10 electrically evoked muscle twitches of the triceps surae subsequent to four different conditioning activities and control. The conditioning activities were 10 hops, 20s of static stretching of the triceps surae muscle, 20s of stretching followed by 10 ho…

Temporal Structure of Human Gaze Dynamics Is Invariant During Free Viewing.

2015

We investigate the dynamic structure of human gaze and present an experimental study of the frequency components of the change in gaze position over time during free viewing of computer-generated fractal images. We show that changes in gaze position are scale-invariant in time with statistical properties that are characteristic of a random walk process. We quantify and track changes in the temporal structure using a well-defined scaling parameter called the Hurst exponent, H. We find H is robust regardless of the spatial complexity generated by the fractal images. In addition, we find the Hurst exponent is invariant across all participants, including those with distinct changes to higher or…

Cardiovascular Responses to Muscle Stretching: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

2021

AbstractThe aim of this study will be to review the current body of literature to understand the effects of stretching on the responses of the cardiovascular system. A literature search was performed using the following databases: Scopus, NLM Pubmed and ScienceDirect. Studies regarding the effects of stretching on responses of the cardiovascular system were investigated. Outcomes regarded heart rate(HR), blood pressure, pulse wave velocity (PWV of which baPWV for brachial-ankle and cfPWV for carotid-femoral waveforms), heart rate variability and endothelial vascular function. Subsequently, the effects of each outcome were quantitatively synthetized using meta-analytic synthesis with random-…

Parallel laser micromachining based on diffractive optical elements with dispersion compensated femtosecond pulses

2013

We experimentally demonstrate multi-beam high spatial resolution laser micromachining with femtosecond pulses. The effects of chromatic aberrations as well as pulse stretching on the material processed due to diffraction were significantly mitigated by using a suited dispersion compensated module (DCM). This permits to increase the area of processing in a factor 3 in comparison with a conventional setup. Specifically, 52 blind holes have been drilled simultaneously onto a stainless steel sample with a 30 fs laser pulse in a parallel processing configuration.

Molecular dynamics simulation of single DNA stretching reveals a novel structure

2005

Abstract MD simulation, to closely mimic a torsionally unconstrained single-molecule stretching experiment of dsDNA, uncovers three distinct force regimes, characterized by fast and slow elongation regions with a transition regime in between, where the α and γ backbone torsion angles of the elongated double-stranded DNA find rapidly new stationary values. In the slow elongation regime DNA gradually looses its twist, collectively breaks all base-pair H-bonds and develops a remarkable base-stacked structure with the bases strongly tilted, forming a zipper-like stack on the major groove side, stabilized by the narrowing distance between the elongated strands, and by specific water interactions.

Evaluation of thoracic rom in elderly women after a specific flexibility-training program

2014

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a specific flexibility training program on thoracic spinal range of motion (T-ROM) in female older subjects. Thirty older women were randomized into either a trained group [TG] (n: 17; age: 68.35±6.04 years; height: 1.54±0.06 m; weight: 64.78±10.16, kg, BMI: 27.28±3.08) and a control group [CG] (n: 13; age: 69.69±7.94 years; height: 1.57±0.06 m; weight: 68.42±8.18 kg, BMI: 27.88±2.81). Trained subjects were trained for 8 weeks by two sessions/week. In particular, every trained session included: a warm up period (~15 min), a training period (~60 min) including specific exercises to train spinal flexibility, cool down period (~15 min). Co…

Effects of an adapted physical activity program on psychophysical health in elderly women.

2016

Giuseppe Battaglia,1,2 Marianna Bellafiore,1,2 Marianna Alesi,1,2 Antonio Paoli,3 Antonino Bianco,1,2 Antonio Palma1,2 1Department of Psychological, Pedagogical and Educational Sciences, 2Sport and Exercise Sciences Research Unit, University of Palermo, Palermo, 3Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padua, Italy Background: Several studies have shown the positive effects of adapted physical activity (APA) on physical and mental health (MH) during the lifetime. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a specific APA intervention program in the improvement of the health-related quality of life (QOL) and functional condition of spine in elderly women. Method…

2020

This study aimed to explore the acute effects of static stretching on the musculotendinous properties of two hamstring muscles. Twelve male volunteers underwent two testing sessions. One session was dedicated to the evaluation of the semitendinosus muscle before (PRE) and after (POST) static stretching (five sets of 30-s stretching), and the other session similarly explored the long head of biceps femoris muscle. In addition to the displacement of the myotendinous junction (MTJ), passive torque and maximal voluntary isometric torque (MVIT) were evaluated. MVIT (−8.3 ± 10.2%, p = 0.0036, d = 0.497) and passive torque (−28.4 ± 16.9%, p = 0.0003, d = 1.017) were significantly decreased POST st…