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Acute effects of static stretching on leg-spring behavior during hopping

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Abstract

Despite the fact that a stiffer leg spring is prerequisite for achieving a better performance during sports activities, effects of various types of warm-up on the leg stiffness is not well-known. The purpose of this study was to determine if static stretching influences the leg stiffness during two-legged hopping. Fourteen male subjects performed two-legged hopping at 2.2 Hz before and after a 3-min passive stretching of the triceps surae (dorsiflexion of 30°). Based on a spring-mass model, we calculated leg stiffness, which is defined as the ratio of maximal ground reaction force to maximum center of mass displacement at the middle of the stance phase. It was found that there was no significant difference in leg stiffness after passive static stretching. These results suggest that 3-min passive static stretching does not affect the leg-spring behavior and stiffness regulation during two-legged hopping. Finally, possible explanations for the invariant leg stiffness after the passive stretching are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the members of the Sport Neuroscience laboratory, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University for data collections. Finally, we thank Dr. Andrew Lavender for careful reviews of this and earlier drafts.

Conflict of interest

None of the authors have any conflicts of interest associated with this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Motor Control Section, Department of Rehabilitation for the Movement Functions, Research Institute, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, 4-1, Namiki, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan

    Hiroaki Hobara & Emika Kato

  2. Graduate School of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan

    Koh Inoue

  3. Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan

    Kazuyuki Kanosue

Authors
  1. Hiroaki Hobara
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  2. Koh Inoue
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  3. Emika Kato
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  4. Kazuyuki Kanosue
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Correspondence to Hiroaki Hobara.

Additional information

Communicated by Jean-René Lacour.

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Hobara, H., Inoue, K., Kato, E. et al. Acute effects of static stretching on leg-spring behavior during hopping. Eur J Appl Physiol 111, 2115–2121 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-011-1841-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-011-1841-3

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