Viscoelastic Response of Skeletal Muscle to Four Days of Flexibility Training

Effects of Stretching on Passive Muscle Tension and Response to Eccentric Exercise

“…The increases in ROM and peak torque seen in the stretching groups after the exercise task resemble the previously documented improvements in these measures across 4 days of the test protocol. 8 This response shows that stretching can attenuate the loss of stretch tolerance seen in the muscle after novel eccentric exercise. Because of the lack of differences in stiffness and work absorption, these data indicate that chronic stretching helps preserve the end measures of flexibility but does not affect submaximal passive muscle properties in the days after eccentric exercise.…”

“…This technique has previously been used with a human model to measure the compliance of skeletal muscle in vivo. 3,7,8,12,13,21 The procedure was completed using the resistive torque apparatus described previously and was completed on the left leg. Participants were placed in the supine position with the axis of rotation of the resistance arm aligned with the greater trochanter of the femur (Figure 1).…”