Effect of stretch on improvement of muscular contractures in
rats |
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| Authors: | Hideki Ishikura Takeya Ono Sadaaki Oki Yasukazu Saito Namiko Umei Wakako Tsumiyama Atsushi Tasaka Kazuki Aihara Yuta Sato Tomohiro Matsumoto Akira Otsuka |
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| Affiliation: | 1) Graduate School of Comprehensive Scientific Research, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Japan;2) Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Japan;3) Department of Physical Therapy, Osaka Yukioka College of Health Scinece, Japan |
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| Abstract: | [Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate how a stretching torque affectsmuscular contractures. [Subjects] The subjects of this study were 48 male Wistar rats.[Methods] Subjects were divided into 4 groups as follows: Group 1 was the control; Group 2had muscles in continuous fixation; Group 3 had muscles stretched in the direction ofdorsiflexion by a spring balancer set at a torque of 0.3N for a period of 30 minutes aftercontinuous fixation; and Group 4 had muscles stretched in the direction of dorsiflexion bya spring balancer set at a torque of 3.0N for a period of 30 minutes after continuousfixation. Joint fixation periods were for 2 and 4-weeks. Ankle joint range of motion andsoleus flexibility were analyzed. [Results] For the 2-week joint fixation, soleusflexibility in Group 4 showed an increase compared with that of Group 3. For both fixationperiods, range of motion in Group 4 showed an increase compared with that of Group 3.[Conclusion] For both fixation periods, stretching improved joint range of motion. In the2-week joint fixation, soleus flexibility improved. However, soleus flexibility did notimprove in the 4-week joint fixation.Key words: Muscular contracture, Stretching, Muscular flexibility |
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