Date of Award

2015

Rights

Access is available to all users

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Physical Education, Health and Recreation

Abstract

"Flexibility is an important determinant of health and important in sport performance. ADS and SPST are the methods most often used in training flexibility for sport. Although ADS appears to dominate SPST in measures of power and agility, the mechanisms are unclear. The purpose of this study was to delineate the effects of ADS on AROM and agonist-antagonist mean and peak EMG. The ADS protocol involved three sets of ten repetitions of leg kicks while in the supine position with the pelvis and contralateral limb fixed in extension. Participants moved the leg at the hip in a kicking motion to a point of mild discomfort while maintaining knee extension. Surface EMG (Telemyo DTS; Noraxon U.S.A. Inc.) was used to assess mean and peak activation of the RF and BF during the final 5 degrees of HF as well as calculate Cl. Integrated Webcam ( v. 6.1.7601.18208; Microsoft Corporation; 30Hz) was used to monitor HF. Peak Motion Analysis (v. 9.0; Vicon) was used to interpolate HF to 60Hz and digitize the video record to obtain HF during the first and tenth repetition of each set. Separate 1x6 repeated measures one-way ANOVAs revealed significant differences in HF, RF(subscript mean), RF(subscript peak), and BF(subscript peak). HF increased at every time-point following the first repetition despite decreasing significantly from set one to set two. A within-set increase in RF( subscript mean) and RF(subscript peak) was observed although returned to baseline following each set. HF, RF(subscript mean), RF(subscript peak), BF(subscript mean), and BF(subscript peak) increased over the course of the protocol, although BF(subscript mean) was non- significant. No significant alterations was observed in Cl. These findings support the limited association between flexibility and opposing muscle activity as well as a diminishing effect of stretching in AROM. "--Leaf iv.

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