Abstract
Electromyography Assessments of the Vastus Medialis Muscle during Soccer Instep Kicking between Dynamic and Static Stretching The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of static and dynamic stretching within a pre-exercise warm-up on vastus medialis muscle activity during instep kicking and ball velocity in soccer players. The kicking motions of dominant legs were captured from using six synchronized high-speed infra-red cameras at 200 Hz and Electromyography at 100 Hz. There was significant difference in vastus medialis activity after dynamic stretching relative to no stretching condition (0.12 ± 0.06 mV) versus static stretching relative to no stretching condition (-0.21 ± 0.10 mV) with p < 0.001). In addition, there was also a significant difference in ball velocity after dynamic stretching relative to no stretching condition (4.53 ± 2.10 m/s) versus static stretching relative to no stretching condition (-1.48 ± 2.43 m/s) with p < 0.003. We concluded that dynamic stretching during the warm-up, as compared to static stretching, is probably more effective as preparation for optimal muscle activity and finally have high ball velocity which is required in soccer.
Highlights
It is a usual exercise to perform a warm‐up before athletic activity because it has been shown to improve performance and potentially reduce the risk of injury (Bishope, 2007)
The present study demonstrated that ball velocity (BV) was sig‐ nificantly reduced after static stretching relative to no stretching condition compared with dynamic stretching
Dynamic stretching showed that its acute effect as compared to static stretching is probably most effec‐ tive and useful as preparation for the soccer instep kicking with increasing Vastus medialis activity and ball velocity
Summary
It is a usual exercise (rephrase) to perform a warm‐up before athletic activity because it has been shown to improve performance and potentially reduce the risk of injury (Bishope, 2007). Most recent researches have showed that static stretching can have a negative effect on athletic performance by inducing short‐term strength (Cornwell et al, 2001; Fowles et al, 2003), power (Behm et al, 2001; Cornwell et al, 2001; Young and Behm, 2003; Bradley et al, 2007), agility (Little and Williams, 2006) and speed (Little and Williams, 2006; Fletcher et al, 2007) deficits; as a result, a number of researchers have suggested that static stretching should be avoided during warm‐up routines (Cornwell et al, 2001; Bradley et al, 2007) Dynamic stretching is another technique that has become very popular in sport (Hedric, 2000).
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