INTRODUCTION Joint contractures are relatively common disorders that can result in significant, long-term morbidity. Initial treatment is non-operative and often entails the use of mechanical modalities such as dynamic and static splints. Although widely utilized, there is a paucity of data that support the use of such measures. The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the safety a...

OBJECTIVE Evaluate the effects of ultrasound and stretching in morphology after rat muscle contusion. METHODS Male Wistar rats (n = 35, 8-9 weeks, 271 ± 14 g) were divided into five groups: control group (CG = 3); lesion group (LG = 8); lesion + ultrasound group (LUG = 8); lesion + stretching group (LSG = 8); lesion + ultrasound + stretching group (LUSG = 8). The ultrasound was applied in LUG...

Rupture of biological cell membrane under mechanical stresses is critical for cell viability. It is triggered by local rearrangements of membrane molecules. We investigated the effects of stretching speed on mechanical rupture of phospholipid/cholesterol bilayers using unsteady molecular dynamics simulations. We focused on pore formation, the trigger of rupture, in a 40 mol% cholesterol-includi...

This paper presents a nonlinear model of a clamped-clamped microbeam actuated by an electrostatic load with stretching and thermoelastic effects. The frequency of free vibration is calculated by discretization based on the Differential Quadrature (DQ) Method. The frequency is a complex value due to the thermoelastic effect that dissipates energy. By separating the real and imaginary parts of fr...

Arterial smooth muscle cells synthesize matrix macromolecules in response to mechanical stimulation. Exposure to serum lipids also stimulates connective tissue fiber accumulation. To assess the effect of serum lipids on the biosynthetic response to tensile stress, we subjected rabbit aortic smooth muscle cells that were cultured on purified elastin membranes to cyclic stretching and relaxation ...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the general effect of stretching on spasticity and to explore the complexity of stretching in patients with spasticity. DATA SOURCES Two researchers independently performed a systematic literature search using the databases: Medline, PEDro, Cochrane library, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Allied and Complementary Medicine. STUDY SELECTION Studies on adults receiving a...

PURPOSE Compare the effect of conventional static stretching and muscle chain stretching, as proposed by the global posture reeducation method, in the manual therapy of patients with chronic neck pain. METHODS Thirty-three female patients aged 35 to 60 years old, 31 of whom completed the program, were randomly divided into two groups: The global posture reeducation group (n=15) performed musc...