Abstract
Passive stretching is often performed in medical treatment, care and everyday life, before and after exercise to enhance the range of motion, limber up the body, and improve blood circulation, etc. Over the years, many different methods have been developed to effectively stretch muscles. Many studies have examined the effects of muscle stretching. However, there have been few investigations that have sought to determine factors involved with muscle stretching; although it is considered that the extent of muscle stretching depends on the viscoelasticity of the muscle tissues and the actions of the central nervous system. In this study, H wave amplitude of the opposite soleus muscle was measured to compare spinal excitement levels before, during and after passive stretching of the triceps surae muscle. We demonstrated that the H wave amplitude was slightly suppressed during and after stretching.
