International Journal of
Therapies and Rehabilitation Research [E-ISSN: 2278-0343]
http://www.scopemed.org/?jid=12
IJTRR 2015, 4: 4 I doi: 10.5455/ijtrr.00000091
Original Article
Open Access
EFFECT OF WARM UP ON HAMSTRING FLEXIBILITY USING SIT AND
REACH TEST ON YOUNG ADULTS
ADLIN PREEMA MATHIAS1& JOSEPH OLIVER RAJ2
ARTICLE INFO
ABSTRACT
____________________________
OBJECTIVE: To find out the effects of 3 minutes warm up, 5 minutes
warm up and no warm up on hamstring flexibility measured using sit
and reach test.
DESIGN: Cross- sectional study
OUTCOME MEASURE: Flexibility
METHOD: 80 subjects were recruited in the study. First day, just the sit
and reach test was done. The second day, sit and reach test was
administered after 3 minutes of warm up. After 3 days, the same test
was repeated with 5 minutes of warm up. Warm up protocol was
divided into cycling, treadmill and general body stretching.
RESULT: Repeated measures ANOVA and paired sample t test were
used to analyze the data. It showed there was significant difference
among group (p=0.000). Paired sample t test showed 3.14±2.17 among
no warm up to 3 minutes of warm up and 4.16±2.29 among no warm up
to 5 minutes of warm up and it showed mean of 1.08±0.98 among 3
minutes of warm up to 5 minutes of warm up. For all results it showed
significant value of 0.000.
CONCLUSION: Study showed that there is significant increase in length
of hamstring muscle with and without warm up and 3 minutes of warm
up to 5 minutes of warm up. The results also showed that there is
better flexibility as the time of warm up duration increases.
Article History:
Received: July 15, 2015
Accepted: Aug 30, 2015
Published: Sep 7, 2015
____________________________
Key Words:
Musculoskeletal disorders, stretching, counter balancing, treadmill,
____________________________
AUTHORS AFFILIATIONS
Alva’s college of physiotherapy and research center, Moodbidri, India
____________________________
Correspondence: ADLIN PREEMA MATHIAS1
Email: [email protected]
INTRODUCTION
Sit and reach (SR) test is a traditional field test used to measure
hamstring as well as low back flexibility. This is administered in almost
all fitness testing, because it is believed that maintaining hamstring and
low back flexibility will prevent various musculoskeletal disorders1.
According to ACSM’s guidelines for exercise test and prescription,
flexibility is the range of motion available at a joint2.
Different types of flexibility are:1) Dynamic flexibility/ Kinetic flexibility – is the ability to perform
dynamic/ kinetic movements of the muscles to bring a limb
through its full range of motion in the joints.
2) Static - Active flexibility / Active flexibility – Is the ability to assume
and maintain extended positions using only the tension of the
agonist and synergists while the antagonists are being stretched.
For example, lifting the leg and keeping it high without any
external support
(other than your own leg muscles).
3) Static - Passive flexibility / Passive flexibility – Is the ability to
assume extended positions and then maintain them using only
your weight, the support of your limb or some other apparatus
(such as chair)3.
If there is lack of hamstring flexibility it can be associated with various
musculoskeletal injuries, back pain and risk of fall and gait deviation4.
Many studies on validity and reliability of sit and reach test had been
done and it is showed that, this test is valid and reliable. It is easy to
administer, easy to understand and less skill is needed5.
MATHIAS A et al., International Journal of Therapies and Rehabilitation Research 2015; 4 (4): 205-208
The most common method of assessing hamstring flexibility in the field
setting has been the floor sit and reach test6. Though there are
modifications of the sit and reach test, it may be related to procedure,
posture of the participant and the test equipment used, the literature
agreed to the statement that sit and reach test procedure yield
moderate validity for hamstring muscle flexibility assessment and poor
validity for low back flexibility5,7.
Flexibility tests are somewhat similar to stretching exercises. We have
seen that before any training, physical activity or work out, athletes
warm up themselves for the activity to follow8. It is better to warm the
muscle prior to any assessment in terms of brisk walking or cycling or
treadmill to increase the range of motion and to prevent muscle injury9.
Duane V. Knudson, in his warm up and flexibility book has mentioned
two types of warm up. They are 1) Active Warm-Up which consists of
low intensity movements that are effective in elevating body
temperature, warming tissue and producing a variety of improvement
in physiological function. 2) Passive Warm-Up includes external heat
sources like heating pads, whirlpools or ultrasound. Prior to vigorous
exertion, athletes should perform several minutes of general body
movements (general warm up) of progressively increasing intensity.
Low intensity movements specific to the sports or activity of interest is
called specific warm up10.
Some feel warm up is not essential if the movement is slow and
controlled and argue that life`s activities are not preceded by warm
up11. To delay fatigue and for the better performance it is good to go for
a little warm up. Researchers have showed that lesser the warm up
better is the result. More warm up cause fatigue of the muscle12.
There have been studies done which includes warm up prior to sit and
reach test. Studies have shown that warm up for certain period with
stretches can improve flexibility but there is no study done specifically
to justify the effect of warm up on sit and reach test. Here an attempt
was made to find out the effect of duration of warm up on hamstring
flexibility, measured using sit and reach test. So the objective of the
study was to find out the effect of 3 minutes of warm up, 5 minutes of
warm up and no warm up on hamstring flexibility measured using sit
and reach test.
MATERIAL AND METHOD
After the approval of the ethical review board, verbal advertisement
was given. Subjects were recruited through convenient sampling.
Inclusion criteria for the study was apparently healthy individuals, both
male and female, age group of 18 to 24, individual not on fitness
protocol. Persons with any musculoskeletal disorder, low back pain,
pathological tightness of the hamstring, any recent lower limb or spine
fracture, limb length discrepancy, any surgery to low back or lower
extremity in past 6 months were excluded. After estimating the sample
size, 80 subjects were recruited who fulfilled the selection criteria. The
study was conducted in Alva`s Fitness Zone, Moodbidri in the morning
hours before breakfast. The material used were motorized treadmill
(STAYFIT CTX3MTM), stationary bicycle (WELCARE), sit and reach box,
inch tape and stop watch (RACER).
Participants were instructed to wear loose clothing in order to get the
effective reading. Prior to test, procedure was explained to participants.
Each participant then performed the test protocol. First day sit and
reach test without warm up was done and the flexibility of hamstring
was measured in centimeters. The following day, 3 minutes of warm up
and sit and reach test was administered and hamstring flexibility was
measured. 5 minutes of warm up and sit and reach test to measure
hamstring flexibility was done after three days to negate any carry over
effects of the previous test. Each day 3 readings were taken from each
participant and average value was noted down. Counter balancing was
done to prevent order effect (i.e., for half participants, 3 minutes warm
up was given first then 5 minutes warm up was given. For the other
half, 5 minutes warm up preceded the 3 minutes of warm up). The
participants were instructed not to indulge in any exercise or stretching
programs and to follow a similar diet pattern during these four days.
3 minutes warm up protocol was divided into 3 intervals - 60 seconds
of cycling (50 rpm), 60 seconds of jogging in treadmill (6 kmph speed)
and 60 seconds of general body stretching.
5 minutes warm up protocol was divided into 3 intervals of 100
seconds of cycling (50 rpm), 100 seconds of jogging in treadmill (6 kmph
speed) and 100 seconds of general body stretching.
Sit and reach test: Participant sits on floor, shoes off, with feet against
the wall. They fully extend legs with the medial sides of the feet about
20 cm apart. One hand used to hold lightly against the participant knees
to ensure full leg extension. Participants extended arms forward with
the hands placed on top of each other, palms down. Participants slowly
bent till the maximum stretch was felt. They repeated this forward
stretch 2 more times. Third time final value was noted down.
RESULTS
All the tests were done using SPSS version 20 for windows software.
Mean was calculated and the measure of dispersion used was standard
deviation. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to check the within the
group and between the group effects. Paired t test was used to
compare the two groups. Level of significance was set at p≤0.05. Mean
age of the subjects were 19.5±1.8. Total 19 male subjects and 61 female
subjects were participated. Test of normality was checked with
skewedness value as -1.25 which showed that distribution is negatively
skewed.
Repeated measures of ANOVA was done to check the within the subject
effect. It showed that F value for this effect is 205.771 and significant
level 0.000. Paired sample statistics of without warm up and 3 minutes
of warm up showed mean and standard deviation of 3.14±2.17 and
level of significance 0.000. Paired sample statistics for without warm up
and 5 minutes of warm up showed results as 4.26±2.29 and level of
significance 0.000. Paired sample statistics for 3 minute and 5 minute of
warm up, mean value was 1.02±0.98 and level of significance was
0.000.
Table 1 - Demographic data of the subjects
Sample size
Mean age
Standard
deviation (S.D)
80
19.5
1.8
Table 2 - Test of within subject effect
Source
F
Length
19:61
P
205.771
MATHIAS A et al., International Journal of Therapies and Rehabilitation Research 2015; 4 (4):
M:F
0.000
205-208
Table 3 - Paired sample statistics for no warm up and 3 minutes
of warm up
Table 5 – paired sample statistics for 3 warm up and 5 minute
of warm up
Paired difference
Paired difference
Mean
SD
95% confidence
interval
difference
P
Mean
length 1 length 2
3.140
00
2.178
24
lower
upper
3.624
74
2.655
26
95%
confidence
interval
of
the difference
SD
0.000
length 2
length 3
–
1.02875
0.98
356
lowe
r
uppe
r
1.24
763
0.80
987
P
0.00
0
Table 4 - Paired sample statistics for no warm up and 5 minutes
of warm up
Paired difference
Mean
length
1–
length
3
4.16875
SD
2.29979
95% confidence
interval of the
difference
lower
upper
4.68054
3.65696
P
0.000
DISSUSION
As we know SR test is administered for checking the flexibility of
hamstring muscle. Evidence shows that with proper warm up the
flexibility of the muscle increases, which decreases the musculoskeletal
injury and increases flexibility of the muscles overall in the body. As the
purpose of this study was to check the effect of warm up on flexibility
of the hamstring muscle, in this study total 80 subjects participated and
on all, flexibility test i.e., SR test was administered. All participants
underwent test with first day no warm up, second day 3 minutes of
warm up and after 3 days 5 minutes of warm up and then flexibility test
was done. 5 minutes of warm up was administered after 3 days just to
negate any carry over effect.
Test protocol was administered early in the morning between 8 am to
8:30 am and participants were asked not to have any food before the
test. They were also asked not to indulge in any sports activities during
these days in order to negate the alteration in the length of the muscle.
Out of 80 subjects, 19 were male and 61 were female. After the
normality test it showed that variable such as gender is negatively
skewed and curve is flat to baseline. i.e. platycurtic.
Repeated measures ANOVA showed there is significant difference
between each group as p value showed significance of 0.000
Paired t test was done to compare the group between no warm up and
3 minutes of warm up and results shows mean 3.14±2.17 and
confidence interval was set 95% and it showed that there is high
significance between no warm up to 3 minutes of warm up.
With the same test it was analyzed that there is mean of 4.16±2.29
between no warm up to 5 minutes of warm up.
Further, to check whether there is significance between 3 minutes of
warm up to 5 minutes of warm up, the results showed mean as
1.08±0.98 and significance of p<0.000 which showed there is significant
difference between 3 minutes to 5 minutes of warm up.
Same results were found out in 2009 by Kieran O`Sullivan and
colleagues. They concluded that warm up significantly increased ROM
from baseline (p<0.001) and ROM was further significantly increased
after static stretching from baseline (p<0.001)13.
Warm up is known to increase muscle compliance to stretch as well as
decrease muscle stiffness and viscosity14. Increase in flexibility could be
primarily attributed to an increase in stretching tolerance15. Neural
effects also play an important role as decrease in reflex activity leads to
muscle relaxation16.
The possible reason for the better performance after warm up can be
due to increase in blood supply to the muscle which in turn opens the
capillary circulation. An increase in temperature leads to increase in
oxygen supply and which lead to better contraction and relaxation of
the muscle, muscle metabolism is increased so the muscles work
efficiently17.
MATHIAS A et al., International Journal of Therapies and Rehabilitation Research 2015; 4 (4):
205-208
This study favors the research statement that there is significant
difference between with and without warm up and there is significant
difference between 3 minutes of warm up to 5 minutes of warm up. 5
minutes of warm up yields better flexibility than 3 minutes of warm-up.
STUDY LIMITATION: The study had small sample size. There was gender
difference as female population was very high in number.
CONCLUSION: This study showed that there is significant increase in
length of hamstring muscle with and without warm up and 3 minutes of
warm up to 5 minutes of warm up. The results also showed that there is
better flexibility as the time of warm up increases. So by this study we
can conclude that better the warm up, better is the flexibility and there
will be reduced muscle injury.
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