The Acute Effect of Static Stretching of Quadriceps, Hamstrings and Gastrocnemius Muscles on Knee Joint Position Sense in Football Players

Purpose: Everything that impairs joint proprioception system can harm joints. It has been stated that stretching exercises can change properties of the proprioceptive receptors and as a result changes the sensibility of the joints proprioception. Due to fact that static stretching has greater use between athletes, it is necessary to give useful information about the safety of these stretching exercises and their effect on knee joint position sense. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of static stretching of selected muscles around knee on knee joint position sense in football players. Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental research with pretest and posttest design. In this study, 30 soccer players at the college level, with the mean age of 23.20 ± 1.45 years were selected through purposeful sampling. Before performing stretching exercises and measuring, subjects had 5 minutes warm up on a fixed bike with the same speed. Then, knee joint position sense were measured by electrogoniometer SG150 model and the achieved figures were recorded as pretest record in the record sheet. Then static stretching exercise protocol was applied on the selected muscle and immediately after that, joint position sense was measured. The obtained data were recorded as posttest record. The paired t test was used to compare the mean of pretest to the posttest mean. Results: The results of the study showed that there is no significant difference between the mean of knee joint position sense before doing static stretching exercises and thereafter (P = 0.13). Conclusion: According to the results of this study, athletes, trainers and coaches can use the static stretching without fear of negative effects on the proprioception.