• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2016

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of flexibility and foot pressure on stretching exercise of hamstring muscle with and without pelvis neutral position. Methods : This study was performed on 30 subjects. Thirty subjects were divided into two group; hamstring passive stretching exercise with pelvis neutral position(n=15), hamstring passive stretching exercise without pelvis neutral position(n=15). Both of the group performed the exercise 4 times a week for 6 weeks. The data was analyzed by the paired t-test for comparing before and after changes of factors in each group and the independent t-test for comparing the between groups. Results : The results were as follows. There was statistically significant difference of before and after hamstring flexibility, foot pressure in pelvis neutral position(p<0.05). There was statistically significant difference of before and after hamstring flexibility, foot pressure without pelvis neutral position group(p<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference of between the two group in hamstring flexibility, foot pressure(p>0.05). Conclusion : As a result of this study, though no statistically significant difference of the between groups, we suggest that stretching exercise of hamstring muscle with pelvic neutral may be effective more than stretching exercise of hamstring muscle without pelvic neutral in flexibility, foot pressure.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2010

Purpose: Stretching exercises are commonly used in conjunction with sports and rehabilitation. Weassessed the immediate effects of stretching on passive stiffness of the hamstring muscles and knee range of motion (ROM) using three stretching techniques. Methods: A total of 45 participants were recruited. Isokinetic equipment was used to measure the passive stiffness of hamstring muscles and an inclinometer was used to measure active and passive ROM of the knee joint pre and post stretching. Stiffness was then calculated based on the incline of the torque-angle relationship. The test conditions for Group I were $3{\times}30$ seconds of static stretches using the hamstring muscle, Group II were $3{\times}30$ seconds of static stretches using the hamstring muscle with ankle dorsiflexion, and Group IIII had $3{\times}30$ seconds of active stretching. Results: Group II had significantly higher excursion of active ROM and Group IIIhad significantly higher excursion of passive muscle stiffness. All of the groups had significantly higher active and passive ROM and significantly lower muscle stiffness after stretching. The participants showed no change in hamstring muscle stiffness on the following day. Conclusion: Stretching has significant acute effects on ROM and muscle stiffness and canbe used in warm-up protocols for reducing muscle stiffness before a variety of exercise programs.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.259-268
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• 2022

Objective: The purpose of this study was to measure the immediate effect of hip hinge exercise stretching on hamstring flexibility, pelvic tilting angle, proprioception, and dynamic balance in individual with tightness of the hamstring. Design: A randomized controlled trial. Methods: A total of 35 healthy young adults (27 males, 8 females) volunteered for this study and randomly divided into three groups (Hip hinge exercise stretching group, passive stretching group, and PNF stretching group). The hamstring flexibility, pelvic tilting angle, knee joint proprioception, dynamic balance was conducted for 3 times. In order to evaluate the hamstring flexibility, the active knee extension test was performed. Forward bending test was performed to examine pelvic tilting angle.The proprioception was tested by the joint position sense test and dynamic balance was evaluated by Y balance test. Results: The hamstring flexibility, pelvic tilting angle and dynamic balance were significantly improved between three groups before and after intervention (p<0.05). Dynamic balance was significantly difference between the three groups in the posterolateral direction (p<0.05). Conclusions: This study result showed that hip hinge exercise stretching was the most effective method for increasing hamstring flexibility, pelvic tilting angle and dynamic balance. In addition, it is necessary to study whether hamstring stretching is effective in low back pain patient with hamstrings tightness.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.559-567
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• 2005

The purpose of this research is to study how the stretching exercise along with heat and electric therapy can effect on Angle of Lumbar Flexion and Reduction of Pain against the Hamstring Construction Symptom that can be found in the Chronic Low Back Patients. The target of research was 28 person selected out of the patients diagnosed as Lumbar Sprain and Lumbar Syndrome, who have positive from the active test of Hamstring construction and passive test. Their age range is 20 to 60 years old, 14 male and 14 female. As a research method, simple heat and electric therapy was applied to counter part while Hamstring Stretching Exercise including simple heat and electric therapy was applied to the experimental part. After 6 weeks treatment for each part, the results of effect on Angle of Lumbar Flexion and Pain Reduction was compared and analysed on the basis of the gravity angle meter and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The outcome of research is as follows: 1. Angle of Lumbar Flextion increased effectively not in the conventional counter group but the experimental group to which Hamstring Stretching was applied simultaneously. 2. remarkable effect was shown in the experimental part applied Hamstring Stretching. Consequently from the results of this study, we could find out the fact that the therapy combined preserve treatment and hamstring stretching not only produced increasing Lumbar Flexion Angle but also was more effective on reducing pain of the patients according to it than the conventional or preserve therapy.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.19-27
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• 2019

PURPOSE: This study examined which stretching exercise had the most positive effect on increasing the range of motion (ROM) of the knee joint in healthy people and whether there was a difference between continuous stretching and intermittent stretching. METHODS: This study included 30 healthy university students from OOO University. The subjects were asked to sit on a mat and perform hamstring-stretching exercise during which the ROM and muscle tone were measured with pre and post-tests. Each subject was assigned randomly to a continuous stretching group (stretching without relaxation time group, n=10, G1) or intermittent stretching group (stretching with 10s relaxing time group, n=10, G2; and stretching with 20s relaxing time group, n=10, G3). The participants conducted hamstring stretching exercises with a sit-and-reach box at three different rest times (0s, 10s, and 20s). Subsequently, they underwent passive knee extension (PKE) tests, in which the ROM of the knee joint was measured with a goniometer, and the muscle tone was evaluated using a MyotonPro. RESULTS: Significant differences in muscle tone, stiffness, and ROM were observed between pre-test and post-test in each groups (p<.05). Although the post hoc tests indicated no significant differences in muscle tone and ROM between the continuous stretching group and intermittent stretching group (p>.05), the rate of change of the ROM showed that the intermittent stretching group developed more effective maintenance of the hamstring flexibility. CONCLUSION: No significant differences in the muscle tone of the hamstring and ROM of the knee joint were observed according to the hamstring stretching exercises with three different rest times. On the other hand, the rate of change of the ROM showed that intermittent stretching maintained the hamstring flexibility more effectively.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.75-81
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• 2018

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of various relaxation techniques on various dysfunction problems caused by shortening of the sagittal muscles. Method: The subjects were 44(18 males, 26 females). The subjects were composed of 3 groups. The experimental group consisted of 14 patients with proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretching (PNF) technique, control group A 15 patients with self myofacial release (SMR) ball exercise, and control group B with 15 patients with Sling exercise. After 3 weeks of relaxation on the hamstring muscle, the length of the hamstring muscle before and after the intervention was compared. Results: The results of relaxation exercise of the snake muscles applied to passive PNF group, SMR ball group, and Sling relaxation group are as follows. 1. In the passive PNF group, the muscle length of the hamstring muscle was significantly increased after the intervention. 2. The muscle length of the hamstring muscle was significantly increased after the intervention in the SMR ball group. 3. Sling relaxation group significantly increased the muscle length of the hamstring muscle after sling exercise intervention. 4. Passive PNF group showed the greatest change in muscle length before and after intervention than SMR ball group and Sling relaxation group. Conclusion: Passive PNF relaxation therapy, SMR ball relaxation therapy, and Sling relaxation therapy applied to the hamstring muscle were effective in increasing muscle length of the hamstring muscle. PNF relaxation therapy showed the most significant effect after 3 weeks intervention.

• Journal of International Academy of Physical Therapy Research
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.2102-2106
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• 2020

Background: Static hamstring stretching exercises have been widely used to improve flexibility of the hamstring muscles. However, few studies have examined the influence of standing static hamstring stretching (e.g., jack-knife stretching) on movements of the lumbopelvic-hip complex. Objectives: To examine the short-term effects of jack-knife stretching on movements of the lumbopelvic-hip complex. Design: Case series. Methods: Fourteen participants with hamstring tightness (8 male, 6 female) were recruited. Participants performed jack-knife stretching for 150 s. Before and after stretching, participants performed the finger-to-floor distance (FFD), sit and reach (SRT), active knee extension (AKE), passive straight leg raising (PSLA), and active straight leg raising (ASLR) tests as well as pelvic tilt while standing to identify the effects of stretching. Results: There were significant improvements in the FFD, SRT, AKE, PSLA, and ASLR tests after stretching. However, pelvic tilt angle while standing did not significantly change. Conclusion: Jack-knife stretching can be a useful exercise to improve flexibility of the hamstring muscles, but not pelvic alignment while standing.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to compare the duration of hamstring flexibility improvement after 3 stretching interventions in people with limited hamstring flexibility. Twenty-two subjects (12 men, 10 women) with limited hamstring flexibility of the dominant leg received 3 stretching interventions- modified dynamic stretching (MDS), hold-relax (HR), and static stretching (SS)-in a random order. All the subjects received all 3 interventions at intervals of at least 24 hours to minimize any carry-over effect. Modified dynamic stretching was applied as a closed kinetic chain exercise in the supine position by using the sling suspension system (Redcord Trainer(R)). The SS and HR interventions were individually performed in the straight leg raising (SLR) position, and all 3 interventions were performed for 3 minutes. Outcome measures included passive knee extension (PKE) measurements. Five post-test measurements were recorded for all subjects at 3, 6, 9, 15, and 30 minutes after the interventions. MDS was associated with a significant increase in knee extension range of motion even at 30 minutes post-treatment. In contrast, the HR and SS stretching methods showed increased hamstring flexibility for only 6 minutes post-treatment. Improvements in the range of motion of knee extension (indicating enhancement in hamstring flexibility) with MDS were maintained longer than those with the HR and SS interventions. Therefore, MDS may be more effective than the other interventions for maintaining hamstring flexibility.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.263-274
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• 2019

Purpose: This article was conducted to determine the immediate effects of unilateral contract-relax (CR) stretching on contralateral knee extension range and to compare both sides of the knee extension range between experimental and control groups. Methods: This study recruited 16 adult males and females with straight leg raising abilities below $90^{\circ}$. The subjects were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group comprising 8 subjects each. The experimental group performed direct CR stretching on the right hamstring muscles with straight hip extension adduction, and the control group performed indirect CR stretching on the right hamstring muscles with straight hip flexion abduction. Each group performed CR stretching 4 times with 4 repetitions comprising 10 sec of contraction and a 10 sec break between repetitions. Before and after the CR stretching exercises, the subjects' passive knee extensions were measured at the hip in a $90^{\circ}$ flexed position. The subjects' peak force on the right leg and peak pressure on the left leg during each CR stretching exercise were also measured. Results: After doing CR stretching 4 times, each group showed a significantly increased passive knee extension range on both sides, and there was no difference in the passive knee extension ranges between the groups. The peak force on the right leg was significantly higher in the experimental group than the control group. There was no difference in peak pressure between the groups. Conclusion: After applying unilateral CR stretching, the study subjects experienced a significantly increased passive knee extension range on the contralateral side. For patients who find it difficult to apply stretching techniques to knee joints directly, the use of the proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation technique of CR stretching may be useful in improving the range of the knee joint on the contralateral side without direct treatment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.111-119
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• 2020

PURPOSE: In adults with hamstring tightness, stretching is considered a therapeutic exercise that improves flexibility. However, previous studies have reported efficacy of numerous methods, and are inconclusive in determining the most effective stretching techniques. This study aims to compare the outcomes of Evjenth-Hamberg stretching (E-HS), proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretching (PNFS), and static stretching (SS), on muscle tone and flexibility. METHODS: A total of 30 subjects were assigned to each of the three stretching groups:; E-HS (n₁ = 10), PNFS (n₂ = 10), and SS (n₃ = 10). Muscle tone of the hamstring muscle, active knee extension (AKE), and passive knee extension (PKE) were assessed by range of motion. RESULTS: After the intervention, statistically significant differences were obtained between groups for muscle tone (p < .05). The post hoc test, showed statistically significant differences in muscle tone between the E-HS and PNFS groups (p < .05), and PNFS and SS groups (p < .05). Post hoc test after intervention, also revealed statistically significant differences in flexibility (p < .05) between the E-HS and PNFS groups (p < .05), E-HS and SS groups (p < .05), and PNFS and SS groups (p < .05). Moreover, a statistically significant difference was observed in PKE scores between the E-HS and SS groups (p < .05), and PNFS and SS groups (p < .05). CONCLUSION: This study indicates that E-HS may be the most effective stretching technique for muscle tone and flexibility, in adults with hamstring tightness.