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Postactivation potentiation can counteract declines in force and power that occur after stretching
Author(s) -
Kümmel J.,
Kramer A.,
Cronin N. J.,
Gruber M.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of medicine and science in sports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.575
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1600-0838
pISSN - 0905-7188
DOI - 10.1111/sms.12817
Subject(s) - ankle , triceps surae muscle , conditioning , static stretching , jump , chemistry , long term potentiation , physical medicine and rehabilitation , anatomy , medicine , physical therapy , mathematics , physics , range of motion , statistics , quantum mechanics , receptor
Stretching can decrease a muscle's maximal force, whereas short but intense muscle contractions can increase it. We hypothesized that when combined, postactivation potentiation induced by reactive jumps would counteract stretch‐induced decrements in drop jump ( DJ ) performance. Moreover, we measured changes in muscle twitch forces and ankle joint stiffness ( K A nkle ) to examine underlying mechanisms. Twenty subjects completed three DJ s and 10 electrically evoked muscle twitches of the triceps surae subsequent to four different conditioning activities and control. The conditioning activities were 10 hops, 20s of static stretching of the triceps surae muscle, 20s of stretching followed by 10 hops, and vice versa. After 10 hops, twitch peak torque ( TPT ) was 20% and jump height 5% higher compared with control with no differences in K A nkle . After stretching, TPT and jump height were both 9% and K A nkle 6% lower. When hops and stretching were combined as conditioning activities, jump height was not different compared with control but significantly higher (11% and 8%) compared with stretching. TPT s were 16% higher compared with control when the hops were performed after stretching and 9% higher compared with the reverse order. K A nkle was significantly lower when stretching was performed after the hops (6%) compared with control, but no significant difference was observed when hops were performed after stretching. These results demonstrate that conditioning hops can counteract stretch‐related declines in DJ performance. Furthermore, the differences in TPT s and K A nkle between combined conditioning protocols indicate that the order of conditioning tasks might play an important role at the muscle–tendon level.