Edmund M. Kosmahl, PT, EdD

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine if performing a warm-up walk followed by a stretching program would produce greater gains in hamstring flexibility than performing the stretching program first, followed by a warm-up exercise. The subjects were 57 students (20 males, 37 females) from the University of Scranton ranging in age from 19-22 years old (mean age=20.4, SD=0.84). The subjects were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Methods. Both groups began with a pre-test measurement for hamstring flexibility using the unilateral straight leg raise test. Subjects in Group A first performed three sets of two hamstring stretches: a passive straight leg raise and a modified sit and reach. Stretching was followed by a warm-up walk on a treadmill until the subject maintained 50%-70% of his or her Age Predicted Maximum Heart Rate (APMHR) for three minutes. Subjects in Group B performed the warm-up first, followed by the stretching program. Both groups were re-measured for hamstring flexibility. A two-group t-test for unequal variance was used to compare the flexibility gains between the two groups. Results. The t-test was significant at the .05 level (P=.002). Conclusion and Discussion. This study demonstrated that performing a warm-up followed by a stretching program achieves significantly greater gains in hamstring flexibility than performing a stretching program followed by a warm-up. Therefore, warm-up followed by a stretching program could increase flexibility to improve exercise performance, reduce injuries, and shorten rehabilitation time.