THE EFFECT OF THERAPEUTIC MUSCLE STRETCH ON NEURAL PROCESSING

Therapeutic muscle stretch is a commonly used procedure despite little evidence in support of efficacy or information about the mechanisms u nderlying the various methods. The purpose of this work was to compare the sequential application of static and ballistic muscle stretch wit h static muscle stretch alone, using the electrically elicited Hoffman n reflex (H-reflex) as a measure of excitability of homonymous motoneu rons. The foot was passively dorsiflexed and either maintained in this position or rapidly and repeatedly dorsiflexed at a velocity of 1.0 r adian/sec. Hoffmann reflexes were taken using established criteria und er control conditions and during stretch conditions. An analysis of va riance indicated a significant difference (p < 0.05) between condition s means, with H-reflex amplitude reducing to 60 and 15% of the control value during static and ballistic stretch, respectively. Since reduct ions in alpha-motoneuron pool excitability correlate with increased fl exibility, ballistic stretch applied following static stretch appears more effective than static stretch alone.