Physical Therapy in Sport
Volume 8, Issue 1 , Pages 30-36, February 2007

The effect of four different vibratory stimuli on dynamic range of motion of the hamstrings

  • John Cronin

      Affiliations

    • School of Exercise, Biomedical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, 100 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, Western Australia 6027, Australia
    • Institute of Sport & Recreation Research New Zealand, Auckland University of Technology, Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +61863045860; fax: +61863045036.
    • ,
  • Michelle Nash

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Sport & Recreation Research New Zealand, Auckland University of Technology, Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
    • ,
  • Chris Whatman

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Sport & Recreation Research New Zealand, Auckland University of Technology, Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1142, New Zealand

Received 13 March 2006; received in revised form 7 November 2006; accepted 13 November 2006.

Abstract 

Objective

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of four different segmental vibratory stimulation (VS) loads on dynamic range of motion (ROM) of the hamstrings.

Design

This study used a randomised cross-over design.

Participants

Ten male club level athletes (age 22.7±3.6yr, height 181.2±6.51cm, mass 84.9±12.3kg) volunteered to participate.

Outcome measures

A two factor repeated measures ANOVA (intervention × time) with post hoc comparisons was used to determine whether any vibration setting produced a significantly greater ROM change (p⩽0.05).

Results

A significant increase in dynamic ROM was found for three out of the four vibration loads (1.6–2.1%). VS using load parameters of 5mm amplitude, 44Hz, 49.4ms−2 resulted in the greatest mean ROM improvement, however, this was not significantly different to the increases observed for the other loading parameters. The VS treatment effects (effect sizes ∼1.2 and greater) in these studies were for the most part larger than the treatment effects found in research using more traditional stretching methods.

Conclusions

Segmental vibration in combination with various stretching techniques may offer interesting options in terms of improving ROM in the short and long term.

Keywords: Performance, Musculotendinous, Flexibility, Vibratory stimulation

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PII: S1466-853X(06)00148-9

doi:10.1016/j.ptsp.2006.11.003

Physical Therapy in Sport
Volume 8, Issue 1 , Pages 30-36, February 2007

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