The effect of stretching exercises on students’ thigh muscles peak torque

The Effect of Stretching Exercises on Students’ Thigh Muscles Peak Torque The aim of research work: to investigate the effect of dynamic and static stretching exercises on students‘ knee flexor and extensor muscles peak torque and strength ratio. Tasks of work: 1.To evaluate students‘ physical activity and their warm-up before physical activity. 2.To determine students‘ thigh muscles functional status. 3.To evaluate and compare the effect of different strething exercises on students‘ thigh muscles functional status. Recently, there has been a discussion that stretching exercises before physical activity may have a negative impact on performance and increase injury risk. Therefore it is essential to examine the effects of different stretching exercises on peak torque of thigh muscles in young adults. Materials and methods: the study was conducted from February to April of 2018. 30 (21 female and 9 males, mean age 21,8±1,16 years) healthy and recreationally active students participated in the study and were randomly divided into two groups. The first group (n=15) performed dynamic stretching exercises and the second group (n=15) performed static stretching exercises. Physical activity levels in students were measured using the Baecke questionnaire, warm-up before physical activity was evaluated and vertical jump test was also executed. Knee flexor and extensor muscles peak torque, strength difference between legs and knee flexor and extensor muscles strength ratio at 60°/s and 180°/s angular velocities were determined using isokinetic dynamometer before and after stretching. Statistical analysis of research data was performed with „Microsoft Office Excel 2010” and „R 3.4.0” softwares. Results: The total physical activity index score was 9,29±1,17 among all participants. 22 students performed stretching exercises before physical activity, of which 14 students included static stretching alone. Among all participants, 24 students did not reach standard values of knee flexor and extensor muscles strength in both legs at both velocities. 18 students‘ strenth ratio at 60°/s angular velocity and 28 student’s strength ratio at 180°/s angular velocity was below norms. 11 participants' vertical jump results were below average. There was a significant increase in the right knee flexor muscles peak torque by 7,60 Nm and in the strength ratio from 0,60±0,08 to 0,64±0,06 at 60°/s angular velocity after dynamic stretching (p0,05). Conclusions: 1. Physical activity among students was above average and reached recommended physical activity levels. 73,3 percent of participants performed stretching exercises before physical activity, of which 63,6 percent carried out only static stretching. 2. 80 percent of students’ knee flexors and extensors peak torque and 93,3 percent of participants‘ knee flexor and extensor muscles strength ratios in both legs were below norms at 60°/s and 180°/s angular velocities (p0,05)