One minute static stretch of plantar flexors transiently increases H reflex excitability and exerts no effect on corticospinal pathways

Budini, Francesco; Gallasch, Eugen; Christova, Monica; Rafolt, D.; Rauscher, Andreas Benedikt; Tilp, Markus

doi:10.1113/ep086374

Cited by 25 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This is in agreement with other studies that have not detected changes in spinal excitability using this measure, even at rest, after a bout of static stretching [5,13,14]. In fact, according to a recent review [42], even when H-reflex depression has been observed as long as 2 s after the removal of a muscle stretch, it certainly appears to be recovered within 15 s. For example, Budini et al [16] observed an increase in H-reflex after one minute of static stretching, but it returned to baseline values by 40-50 s after stretching. This is consistent with the method adopted in the present study, in which H-reflex was recorded 40-50 s after the conclusion of stretching.…”

Section: Spinal Excitabilitysupporting

confidence: 91%

“…It could underpin facilitatory mechanisms located at cortical, spinal and motoneuronal levels [22], and would be primarily related to input from stretch-sensitive afferents [4,14,34] during static stretching and dynamic muscle activity. This ongoing increase is inconsistent with the current literature, which has reported a decrease in MEP amplitude during static stretching itself, which then returned to baseline values as soon as stretching was ended [14,16]. Moreover, a recent study revealed an increase in MEP amplitude up to 2 s following stretching, which then quickly recovered to initial values [17].…”

Section: Corticospinal Excitabilitycontrasting

confidence: 84%

“…Previous studies that have examined stretch-induced effects have tested the pathway during the stretch, and revealed spinal and/or cortical inhibitions [13,14,15], but not in the period after stretch cessation. The limited data available do not present a clear consensus, with a complete recovery of neural inhibition [14] or rather a transient facilitation of spinal [16] and corticospinal [17] excitability being reported. Such changes are suggestive of an altered efferent neural (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…There are some limitations to the present study that require to be highlighted. First of all, a methodological requirement was to keep the stimulation protocol shorter, in order not to mask any potential transient modulation of corticospinal excitability, which has already shown a rapid tendency to return to baseline [14,16,17]. Therefore, only six MEPs, three H max and three M max were evoked, whilst a greater number of neurophysiological measures are typically considered suitable in order to ensure a high outcome reliability.…”

Section: Study Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Static stretch and dynamic muscle activity induce acute similar increase in corticospinal excitability

Opplert¹,

Païzis²,

Papitsa³

et al. 2020

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Even though the acute effects of pre-exercise static stretching and dynamic muscle activity on muscular and functional performance have been largely investigated, their effects on the corticospinal pathway are still unclear. For that reason, this study examined the acute effects of 5×20 s of static stretching, dynamic muscle activity and a control condition on spinal excitability, corticospinal excitability and plantar flexor neuromuscular properties. Fifteen volunteers were randomly tested on separate days. Transcranial magnetic stimulation was applied to investigate corticospinal excitability by recording the amplitude of the motorevoked potential (MEP) and the duration of the cortical silent period (cSP). Peripheral nerve stimulation was applied to investigate (i) spinal excitability using the Hoffmann reflex (H max ), and (ii) neuromuscular properties using the amplitude of the maximal M-wave (M max ) and corresponding peak twitch torque. These measurements were performed with a background 30% of maximal voluntary isometric contraction. Finally, the maximal voluntary isometric contraction torque and the corresponding electromyography (EMG) from soleus, gastrocnemius medialis and gastrocnemius lateralis were recorded. These parameters were measured immediately before and 10 s after each conditioning activity of plantar flexors. Corticospinal excitability (MEP/M max ) was significantly enhanced after static stretching in soleus (P = 0.001; ES = 0.54) and gastrocnemius lateralis (P<0.001; ES = 0.64), and after dynamic muscle activity in gastrocnemius lateralis (P = 0.003; ES = 0.53) only. On the other hand, spinal excitability (H max /M max ), cSP duration, muscle activation (EMG/M max ) as well as maximal voluntary and evoked torque remained unaltered after all pre-exercise interventions. These findings indicate the presence of facilitation of the corticospinal pathway without change in muscle function after both static stretching (particularly) and dynamic muscle activity.

show abstract

Section: Spinal Excitabilitysupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Corticospinal Excitabilitycontrasting

confidence: 84%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Study Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Static stretch and dynamic muscle activity induce acute similar increase in corticospinal excitability

Opplert¹,

Païzis²,

Papitsa³

et al. 2020

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Conditioning a muscle by means of stretching induces changes not only in muscle compliancy (Konrad et al, 2017 ), but also in discharge and sensitivity of muscle spindles (Gregory et al, 1987 ), excitability of spinal pathways (Budini et al, 2017 ), and cortical excitability (Stuart et al, 2002 ). However, from a neuromuscular point of view there seems to be a noticeable difference between conditioning the muscle through static stretching (passively holding a static position with the muscle lengthened) and through a passive eccentric movement (single non-active lengthening movement).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transient Increase in Cortical Excitability Following Static Stretching of Plantar Flexor Muscles

et al. 2018

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Spinal excitability in humans is inhibited by both passively holding a static position with the muscle lengthened (static stretching) and by a single non-active lengthening movement. However, whilst immediately after a passive lengthening movement the inhibition persists for several seconds, there seem to be an immediate recovery following static stretching. This result is counter intuitive and could be attributed to methodological procedures. Indeed, differently to what has been done until now, in order to study whether static stretching has a transient effect on the neuromuscular pathway, the procedure should be repeated many times and measurements collected at different time points after stretching. In the present study we repeated 60 times 30 s static stretching of ankle plantar flexors and measured tap reflex (T-reflex), Hoffman reflex (H-reflex), and motor evoked potentials (MEPs) from the Soleus muscle at several time points, starting from immediately after until 30 s following the procedure. T-reflex was strongly inhibited (range 31–91%, p = 0.005) and the inhibition persisted for 30 s showing a slow recovery (r = 0.541, p = 0.037). H-reflex was not affected by the procedure. Stretching increased the size of the MEPs (p < 0.0001), differences at times 0 and 2 s after stretching (p = 0.015 and p = 0.047, respectively). These results confirm that static stretching reduces muscle spindle sensitivity. Moreover it is suggested that post-activation depression of Ia afferents, which is commonly considered the cause of H-reflex depression during both dorsiflexion and static stretching, vanished immediately following stretching or is counteracted by an increased corticospinal excitability.

show abstract

Mechanisms underlying performance impairments following prolonged static stretching without a comprehensive warm-up

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Whereas a variety of pre-exercise activities have been incorporated as part of a "warm-up" prior to work, combat, and athletic activities for millennia, the inclusion of static stretching (SS) within a warm-up has lost favour in the last 25 years. Research emphasised the possibility of SSinduced impairments in subsequent performance following prolonged stretching without proper dynamic warm-up activities. Proposed mechanisms underlying stretch-induced deficits include both neural (i.e. decreased voluntary activation, persistent inward current effects on motoneurone excitability) and morphological (i.e. changes in the force-length relationship, decreased Ca 2+ sensitivity, alterations in parallel elastic component) factors. Psychological influences such as a mental energy deficit and nocebo effects could also adversely affect performance. However, significant practical limitations exist within published studies, e.g. long stretching durations, stretching exercises with little task specificity, lack of warm-up before/after stretching, testing performed immediately after stretch completion, and risk of investigator and participant bias.Recent research indicates that appropriate durations of static stretching performed within a full warm-up (i.e. aerobic activities before and task-specific dynamic stretching and intense physical activities after SS) have trivial effects on subsequent performance with some evidence of improved force output at longer muscle lengths. For conditions in which muscular force production is compromised by stretching, knowledge of the underlying mechanisms would aid development of mitigation strategies. However, these mechanisms are yet to be perfectly defined. More information is needed to better understand both the warm-up components and mechanisms that contribute to performance enhancements or impairments when SS is incorporated within a pre-activity warm-up.

show abstract

One minute static stretch of plantar flexors transiently increases H reflex excitability and exerts no effect on corticospinal pathways

Cited by 25 publications

References 38 publications

Static stretch and dynamic muscle activity induce acute similar increase in corticospinal excitability

Static stretch and dynamic muscle activity induce acute similar increase in corticospinal excitability

Transient Increase in Cortical Excitability Following Static Stretching of Plantar Flexor Muscles

Mechanisms underlying performance impairments following prolonged static stretching without a comprehensive warm-up

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About