Using Daily Stretching to Counteract Performance Decreases as a Result of Reduced Physical Activity—A Controlled Trial

Konstantin Warneke (), Andreas Konrad, Michael Keiner, Astrid Zech, Masatoshi Nakamura, Martin Hillebrecht and David G. Behm
Additional contact information
Konstantin Warneke: Institute for Exercise, Sport and Health, Leuphana University, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany
Andreas Konrad: School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1C 5S7, Canada
Michael Keiner: Department of Sport Science, German University of Health & Sport, 10587 Ismaning, Germany
Astrid Zech: Department of Human Motion Science and Exercise Physiology, Friedrich Schiller University, 07743 Jena, Germany
Masatoshi Nakamura: Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, Nishi Kyushu University, Ozaki, Kanzaki, Saga 842-8585, Japan
Martin Hillebrecht: University Sports Centre, University of Oldenburg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany
David G. Behm: School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1C 5S7, Canada

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 23, 1-14

Abstract: There are many reasons for reduced physical activity leading to reduced maximal strength and sport-specific performance, such as jumping performance. These include pandemic lockdowns, serious injury, or prolonged sitting in daily work life. Consequently, such circumstances can contribute to increased morbidity and reduced physical performance. Therefore, a demand for space-saving and home-based training routines to counteract decreases in physical performance is suggested in the literature. This study aimed to investigate the possibility of using daily static stretching using a stretching board to counteract inactivity-related decreases in performance. Thirty-five (35) participants were either allocated to an intervention group (IG), performing a daily ten-minute stretch training combined with reduced physical activity or a reduced physical activity-only group (rPA). The effects on maximal voluntary contraction, range of motion using the knee-to-wall test, countermovement jump height (CMJ height ), squat jump height (SJ height ), drop jump height (DJ height ), contact time (DJ ct ) and the reactive strength index (DJ RSI ) were evaluated using a pre-test-post-test design. The rPA group reported reduced physical activity because of lockdown. Results showed significant decreases in flexibility and jump performance (d = −0.11–−0.36, p = 0.004–0.046) within the six weeks intervention period with the rPA group. In contrast, the IG showed significant increases in MVC90 (d = 0.3, p < 0.001) and ROM (d = 0.44, p < 0.001) with significant improvements in SJ height (d = 0.14, p = 0.002), while no change was measured for CMJ height and DJ performance. Hence, 10 min of daily stretching seems to be sufficient to counteract inactivity-related performance decreases in young and healthy participants.

Keywords: jump performance; flexibility; maximum strength; stretching; physical activity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/23/15571/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/23/15571/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:23:p:15571-:d:982187

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().