The effect of four different vibratory stimuli on dynamic range of motion of the hamstrings

Authors

John Cronin, Edith Cowan University
M Nash
C Whatman

Document Type

Journal Article

Faculty

Faculty of Computing, Health and Science

School

School of Exercise, Biomedical and Health Science

RAS ID

5042

Comments

Cronin, J., Nash, M., & Whatman, C. (2007). The effect of four different vibratory stimuli on dynamic range of motion of the hamstrings. Physical therapy in sport, 8(1), 30-36. Available here

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of four different segmental vibratory stimulation (VS) loads on dynamic range of motion (ROM) of the hamstrings.This study used a randomised cross-over design.Ten male club level athletes (age 22.7±3.6yr, height 181.2±6.51cm, mass 84.9±12.3kg) volunteered to participate.A two factor repeated measures ANOVA (intervention × time) with post hoc comparisons was used to determine whether any vibration setting produced a significantly greater ROM change (p⩽0.05).A significant increase in dynamic ROM was found for three out of the four vibration loads (1.6–2.1%). VS using load parameters of 5mm amplitude, 44Hz, 49.4ms ⁻² resulted in the greatest mean ROM improvement, however, this was not significantly different to the increases observed for the other loading parameters. The VS treatment effects (effect sizes ∼1.2 and greater) in these studies were for the most part larger than the treatment effects found in research using more traditional stretching methods.Segmental vibration in combination with various stretching techniques may offer interesting options in terms of improving ROM in the short and long term.

DOI

10.1016/j.ptsp.2006.11.003