Significant Changes In Flexibility Research Articles

The Effectiveness of SLR Stretching and Pelvic Tilt Control Stretching on SLR Range Among Asymptomatic Females with Hamstring Tightness

Background: Hamstring muscle tightness is a significant factor that impedes performance in daily and sports activities, necessitating the need for effective stretching techniques to enhance hamstring flexibility. This is particularly important for an active, physically fit lifestyle, as hamstring tightness is linked to various musculoskeletal issues and injuries. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of Passive Straight Leg Raise (SLR) stretching and Pelvic Tilt Control Stretching in improving hamstring flexibility among asymptomatic young females with hamstring tightness. Methods: In a quasi-experimental trial conducted at the Arif Memorial Teaching Hospital and Riphah International University, Lahore, 50 female participants aged 20-40 years with unilateral hamstring tightness were randomly assigned to either the Passive SLR stretching group or the Pelvic Tilt Control Stretching group. The efficacy of the stretching techniques was assessed using the active knee extension test, measured with a goniometer, both pre- and post-treatment. Results: The Pelvic Tilt Control Stretching group showed a significant improvement in hamstring flexibility, with the mean post-treatment active knee extension significantly increasing from the pre-treatment measurement (p-value = 0.000). In contrast, the Passive SLR group showed no significant change in flexibility (p-value = 0.872). The study also highlighted the prevalence of a sedentary lifestyle among participants and its potential contribution to reduced hamstring flexibility. Conclusion: The study concludes that Pelvic Tilt Control Stretching is an effective method for improving hamstring flexibility in young, asymptomatic females, suggesting its incorporation into physical therapy practices. This finding is particularly relevant for populations prone to hamstring tightness due to sedentary lifestyles. Keywords: Hamstring Flexibility, Pelvic Tilt Control Stretching, Passive Straight Leg Raise, Young Females, Muscle Tightness, Physical Therapy, Sedentary Lifestyle.

Can Acupuncture Improve the Flexibility of Hamstring Muscles? A Randomized, Blinded, and Controlled Pilot Study.

(1) Background: The lack of flexibility is frequently reported as a risk factor for hamstring muscle damage. Acupuncture, a therapeutic tool of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), may play a role in both treatment and prevention by improving muscle strength, microcirculation, and reducing muscle soreness. The primary objective of this pilot study was to examine the immediate effects of acupuncture on hamstring muscle stretching and on the pain or discomfort reported during stretching. (2) Methods: To mitigate heterogeneity effects, and due to the small sample size, the study employed a crossover design in which each participant was tested at three different moments of the experimental period with verum (true acupuncture in selected acupoints), sham (fake acupuncture in zones of the skin not corresponding to any known acupoint but near the selected acupoints), and placebo (stimulation of the selected acupoints with a stainless steel wire and cannula, without puncturing) stimulations. Flexibility and pain or discomfort were assessed using the seat and reach test (SR) and a visual analogic scale (VAS). (3) Results: Significant changes in flexibility were observed after verum acupuncture (p = 0.03), while no significant changes were seen in sham and placebo (p = 0.86 and p = 0.18, respectively). No significant differences were found in pain or discomfort during any of the stimulations (verum, p = 0.55; sham, p = 0.50; placebo, p = 0.58). (4) Conclusions: The results of this pilot study suggest that acupuncture may improve flexibility in the hamstring muscles, though it does not significantly affect pain or discomfort during stretching.

The effect of pilates training on improving the physical quality of college girls

Objective To study the effects of pilates core strength training on the body shape, cardiopulmonary function, balance ability and flexibility of college girls. Methods According to the purpose of the experiment, 40 female college students were divided into regular physical education course group and pilates training course group.The training intensity was pilates training with a duration of from 60 to 80 minutes, twice a week for 16 weeks.Before and after the training, the indicators of morphology, cardiopulmonary function, balance ability and flexibility were measured. Results The results of covariance analysis showed that pilates training could significantly affect the cardiopulmonary function, flexibility and balance ability of college girls.Through the comparison and analysis of the test indicators before and after, there was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test data in the PM group. Among them, college girls lost 1.09% of their body weight(t=2.709, P=0.014), thigh circumference decreased significantly by 0.34%(t=2.554, P=0.019), waist circumference decreased significantly by 0.99%(t=4.223, P=0.000), the thickness of the lumbar pleat decreased significantly by 4.25%(t=4.908, P=0.000), and the abdominal pleat decreased significantly by 1.54%(t=5.329, P=0.000). In the PM group, cardiopulmonary function was significantly improved, in which VC increased by 27.05%(t=-26.544, P=0.000), VO2max increased by 4.89%(t=-10.141, P=0.000), SV increased by 4.23%(t=-15.143, P=0.000), and HR decreased by 3.06%(t=4.886, P=0.000). The PM group also showed significant changes in flexibility, with an increase of 47.04% in sit-ups and stretches(t=-30.368, P=0.000), sit-ups by 45.70%(t=-17.512, P=0.000), Romberg by 91.41%(t=-11.451, P=0.000) and FRT by 6.55%(t=-6.128, P=0.000). Conclusions Pilates exercises can effectively improve the cardiopulmonary function, balance ability and body flexibility of college girls. Key words: Pilates; College women; Physiological indexes

Catalytic activation of Bacillus laccase after temperature treatment: Structural & biochemical characterization

Laccases belong to a family of multicopper oxidases that have strong oxidation ability towards phenolic compounds. Here, more detailed investigations were carried out on a Bacillus laccase with remarkable behavior of activation after thermal treatment. The kcat of the enzyme was increased 2.5 fold after 50 min incubation at 70 °C. Copper content determination revealed a molar copper to protein ratio of 3.2 in the both sample. The present paper concerns the differences which are induced in enzyme structure after thermal treatment using common biochemical methods Intrinsic fluorescence of the enzyme was increased after incubation at 70 °C indicating higher compactness of the structure in comparison to untreated molecules. Quenching analysis did not show any significant changes in flexibility of the enzyme structure. The local changes in secondary structures were also obvious by far-UV circular dichroism when non-incubated and incubated laccase were compared. Oligomerization studies of the enzyme using gas-phase electrophoretic mobility macromolecule analysis (GEMMA) did not prove any oligomerization.

Effect of supervised physical exercise on flexibility of fibromyalgia patients

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Fibromyalgia is characterized by chronic diffuse musculoskeletal pain. The syndrome, of still unknown etiology, predominantly affects females. Considering that aerobic, resisted and flexibility exercises may help improving the negative impact of fibromyalgia on quality of life, this study aimed at observing the effect of supervised physical exercise on the flexibility of female patients with fibromyalgia treated in the Extension Project Interdisciplinary treatment of fibromyalgia patients, developed in the Universidade do Rio de Janeiro. METHODS: The study consisted in a program of supervised physical exercises lasting six months. Training frequency was equal to two weekly sessions lasting one hour each. Flexibility evaluation tool was the sit and reach test, which was applied in the beginning, three months and six months after intervention. RESULTS: Sample was made up of 29 females (age: 48.6±10.3 years) diagnosed with fibromyalgia. No significant changes in flexibility were observed after three months of intervention. ANOVA one-way has shown significant improvement (p<0.05) from beginning of intervention to completion (Δ=22.77%). CONCLUSION: Six months intervention with supervised physical exercises may improve flexibility levels of fibromyalgia females.

Integrating Biodegradable 3-Dimensional-Printing into Tracheal Reconstruction

Background: Currently, there is no set standard treatment for long-segment tracheomalacia and stenosis. In this study we set out to explore the potential to create a tissue engineered, biodegradable and three-dimensionally (3D) printed tracheal ring as a first step towards bioengineering a long segment tracheal replacement. Method of Approach: A 3D-Computer aided design (CAD) model was produced with multiple channels to allow for cellular growth while mimicking the native anatomy. The design was optimized to allow for printability, cellular expansion, and integration and 3D printed using a modified commercial 3D printer. Results: The cells grown in the scaffold demonstrated a similar proliferation trend compared to control. Chondrocytes within the 3D printed ring retained their phenotypic properties and did not infer any significant change in flexibility, contour and strength to the scaffold. Conclusion: The combination of living cells and a 3D modeled patient specific graft may address some of the unmet clinical needs in the field of tracheal reconstruction. This proof of concept study represents a first step towards producing a 3D printed and tissue engineered long segment tracheal replacement graft for airway surgery.

Dynamic Characteristics of Allosteric Pathways in scFv Antibody Fragments

Proteins exhibit dynamic behavior that is constrained by the hydrogen bond network (HBN). Previous work [Tong Li, et. al. PLoS ONE 9(3) 2014] on a set of six single chain Fv (scFv) anti-lymphotoxin-β receptors demonstrated that there is a redistribution of flexibility upon mutation due to changes in the HBN. The observed redistribution occurs due to enthalpy-entropy compensation in the native state ensemble. Moreover, the shifts in rigidity and flexibility follow the Le Châtelier's principle, meaning increased rigidity is offset by increased flexibility elsewhere. Extending this work further, the thermodynamic and mechanical response is calculated for localized mechanical perturbations that reduce conformational entropy along the protein backbone. At each mechanical perturbation site all other residues that have significant changes in flexibility are identified. Some perturbation sites yield no statistically significant response, and others yield a response that is spatially localized near the perturbation site. A relatively small fraction of perturbations generate strong distal responses, indicating they are putative allosteric sites. Importantly, the allosteric pathways that carry the distal changes in flexibility or rigidity are linked to fluctuations in the HBN, which also depend on the redistributions of rigidity and flexibility that occur upon mutation. Mutations induce a population shift that changes the most probable constraint networks in the equilibrium ensemble, and alter the mechanical signaling pathway through the modification of the HBN. Interestingly, a reciprocal relation is observed among conjugate response and perturbation sites, such that they can be interchanged in their role. A comparative analysis on response maps due to perturbation is made across all six mutant structures, which provide important insight into how sensitive allosteric mechanisms are within antibody fragments.

Molecular Flexibility of Methylcelluloses of Differing Degree of Substitution by Combined Sedimentation and Viscosity Analysis

The flexibility/rigidity of methylcelluloses (MCs) plays an important part in their structure-function relationship and therefore on their commercial applications in the food and biomedical industries. In the present study, two MCs of low degree of substitution (DS) 1.09 and 1.32 and four of high DS (1.80, 1.86, 1.88 and 1.93) were characterised in distilled water in terms of intrinsic viscosity [h]; sedimentation coefficient (s020,w) and weight average molar mass (Mw). Solution conformation and flexibility were estimated qualitatively using conformation zoning and quantitatively (persistence length Lp) using the new combined global method. Sedimentation conformation zoning showed an extended coil (Type C) conformation and the global method applied to each MC sample yielded persistence lengths all within the range Lp(1/4)12-17 nm (for a fixed mass per unit length) with no evidence of any significant change in flexibility with DS.

Acute effects of static stretching on hip flexor and quadriceps flexibility, range of motion and foot speed in kicking a football

The purpose of this research was to determine the effect of static stretching in a warm-up on hip flexor and quadriceps flexibility as measured by a modified Thomas test and on range of motion (ROM) of the leg and foot speed at impact in kicking a football with maximum effort. Sixteen Australian Rules (AR) footballers performed two different warm-ups on different days. One warm-up involved five minutes of sub-maximum running followed by seven practice kicks, while the other also included 4.5 minutes static stretching of the hip flexors and quadriceps after the running. A modified Thomas test was conduced before and after each warm-up. Players performed maximum effort drop punt kicks into a net while being videotaped to determine the ROM of the kicking leg and foot speed at impact with the ball. There were no significant changes in flexibility (p > 0.05) as a result of either warm-up and there were no significant differences between the warm-ups in the kicking variables (p > 0.05). It was concluded that the Thomas test may not have been sensitive to possible acute changes in flexibility from the warm-ups, and that stretching had no influence on kicking ROM or foot speed, possibly because of the complexity of the kicking skill.

Converging free energy estimates: MM-PB(GB)SA studies on the protein-protein complex Ras-Raf.

Estimating protein-protein interaction energies is a very challenging task for current simulation protocols. Here, absolute binding free energies are reported for the complex H-Ras/C-Raf1 using the MM-PB(GB)SA approach, testing the internal consistency and model dependence of the results. Averaging gas-phase energies (MM), solvation free energies as determined by Generalized Born models (GB/SA), and entropic contributions calculated by normal mode analysis for snapshots obtained from 10 ns explicit-solvent molecular dynamics in general results in an overestimation of the binding affinity when a solvent-accessible surface area-dependent model is used to estimate the nonpolar solvation contribution. Applying the sum of a cavity solvation free energy and explicitly modeled solute-solvent van der Waals interaction energies instead provides less negative estimates for the nonpolar solvation contribution. When the polar contribution to the solvation free energy is determined by solving the Poisson-Boltzmann equation (PB) instead, the calculated binding affinity strongly depends on the atomic radii set chosen. For three GB models investigated, different absolute deviations from PB energies were found for the unbound proteins and the complex. As an alternative to normal-mode calculations, quasiharmonic analyses have been performed to estimate entropic contributions due to changes of solute flexibility upon binding. However, such entropy estimates do not converge after 10 ns of simulation time, indicating that sampling issues may limit the applicability of this approach. Finally, binding free energies estimated from snapshots of the unbound proteins extracted from the complex trajectory result in an underestimate of binding affinity. This points to the need to exercise caution in applying the computationally cheaper "one-trajectory-alternative" to systems where there may be significant changes in flexibility and structure due to binding. The best estimate for the binding free energy of Ras-Raf obtained in this study of -8.3 kcal mol(-1) is in good agreement with the experimental result of -9.6 kcal mol(-1), however, further probing the transferability of the applied protocol that led to this result is necessary.

Characterization of binding-induced changes in dynamics suggests a model for sequence-nonspecific binding of ssDNA by replication protein A.

Single-stranded-DNA-binding proteins (SSBs) are required for numerous genetic processes ranging from DNA synthesis to the repair of DNA damage, each of which requires binding with high affinity to ssDNA of variable base composition. To gain insight into the mechanism of sequence-nonspecific binding of ssDNA, NMR chemical shift and (15)N relaxation experiments were performed on an isolated ssDNA-binding domain (RPA70A) from the human SSB replication protein A. The backbone (13)C, (15)N, and (1)H resonances of RPA70A were assigned for the free protein and the d-CTTCA complex. The binding-induced changes in backbone chemical shifts were used to map out the ssDNA-binding site. Comparison to results obtained for the complex with d-C(5) showed that the basic mode of binding is independent of the ssDNA sequence, but that there are differences in the binding surfaces. Amide nitrogen relaxation rates (R(1) and R(2)) and (1)H-(15)N NOE values were measured for RPA70A in the absence and presence of d-CTTCA. Analysis of the data using the Model-Free formalism and spectral density mapping approaches showed that the structural changes in the binding site are accompanied by some significant changes in flexibility of the primary DNA-binding loops on multiple timescales. On the basis of these results and comparisons to related proteins, we propose that the mechanism of sequence-nonspecific binding of ssDNA involves dynamic remodeling of the binding surface.

Changes in the flexibility characteristics of the ankle complex due to damage to the lateral collateral ligaments: an in vitro and in vivo study.

This study was part of a long-term effort to develop a reliable diagnostic procedure for ankle ligament injuries. Earlier efforts led to the development and validation of a six-degrees-of-freedom instrumented linkage capable of measuring the flexibility characteristics of the ankle complex in vitro and in vivo. The major goal of the present study was to determine if these flexibility measurements are sufficiently sensitive to detect the presence of damage to the lateral collateral ligaments of the ankle joint both in vitro and in vivo. The in vitro testing was conducted on the legs from six fresh cadavers before and after serial sectioning of the anterior talofibular ligament and the calcaneofibular ligament. The flexibility in inversion-eversion, anterior drawer, and internal-external rotation was measured before and after resection of the ligaments. The in vivo testing was conducted on five patients with unilateral injuries to the ankle ligament. The flexibility evaluation used for in vitro specimens was also performed on both the injured and the intact ankles. For the in vitro testing, the data analysis was based on comparison of flexibility values before and after resection of the ligaments, whereas the data analysis for the in vivo testing was based on comparison of the flexibility of the injured joint with that of the intact contralateral joint. The results of the in vitro study indicated that both an isolated rupture of the anterior talofibular ligament and combined damage of the anterior talofibular and calcaneofibular ligaments produce statistically significant changes in flexibility. Furthermore, the most sensitive parameters to the presence of ligament injuries were found to be early flexibility in anterior drawer, early flexibility in inversion, and the amount of coupling between internal rotation and inversion. These parameters provided a basis for differentiating between an isolated injury to the anterior talofibular ligament and a combined anterior talofibular and calcaneofibular ligament injury. For an isolated anterior talofibular ligament injury, a significant increase in flexibility in anterior drawer was present, whereas the increase in inversion flexibility or in the amount of coupling was insignificant. However, the increases in inversion flexibility and the amount of coupling became significant when both ligaments were involved. The results of the in vivo study indicated that significant changes in flexibility can be detected in patients with lateral ankle injuries. Finally, both the in vitro and in vivo results suggest that development of a reliable diagnostic test for ankle ligament injury based on changes in passive flexibility may be possible.

Evaluation of a nutrition education module as a component of the career orientation of foreign missionaries

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a nutrition education module, emphasizing both cognitive and affective concepts, on the nutrition knowledge, flexibility of attitude toward nutrition and attitude about nutrition education of missionaries during their orientation period. The experimental (n = 22) and control (n = 19) groups completed pre- and post-test questionnaires that were developed for this study. Missionaries in the experimental group demonstrated significant increases in both nutrition knowledge and more positive attitudes about nutrition education after participation in the module. The control group, however, had no significant increase in knowledge at post-testing and, in general, had significantly more negative attitudes about nutrition education. No significant changes in flexibility were detected for the control group and only for one statement in the experimental group. Significant positive correlations resulted at post-testing between nutrition knowledge and attitude, as well as knowledge and flexibility for the experimental group and between flexibility and attitude for both the experimental and control groups. Results from this study suggest that a change in nutrition knowledge precedes a change in attitude in the knowledge-attitude-behavior pathway as revealed by an analysis of covariance. This sequence supports the principles of adult learning and the theory of holistic education upon which the program of missionary orientation is based.