S. Clark et al., Effects of ipsilateral anterior thigh soft tissue stretching on passive unilateral straight-leg raise, J ORTHOP SP, 29(1), 1999, pp. 4-9
Study Design: Randomized 3-group pretest-posttest with blind assessment of
outcome.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of sagittal
plane hold-relax exercise applied to the ipsilateral anterior thigh, and p
rone positioning on passive unilateral straight-leg raise measurements.
Background: Straight-leg raising has been viewed as a measurement for hamst
ring muscle length, but literature suggests that other structures may affec
t this measurement.
Methods and Measures: Sixty subjects (45 men, 15 women) qualified for inclu
sion into the study based on a straight-leg raise measurement of less than
or equal to 65 degrees. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three gro
ups: control, static stretch, or sagittal plane hold-relax exercise. Pretes
t and posttest straight-leg raise measurements of the right lower extremity
were performed for each subject.
Results: A 1-way ANOVA of the change scores showed a significant difference
between groups. A Tukey post hoc analysis of the change scores showed that
both treatment groups' means differed significantly from the control group
and from each other, with the sagittal plane hold-relax group exhibiting t
he largest change (mean of 7.8 degrees +/- 2.8 degrees).
Conclusions: The results of this study show that sagittal plane hold-relax
exercise and passive prone results of this study show that sagittal plane h
old-relax and passive prone positioning can significantly increase straight
-leg raise range of motion, however the sagittal plane hold-relax stretchin
g of the anterior thigh is more effective than passive prone positioning.