Abstract

Study objective:  To know whether classic soft tissue mobilization assist prolonged stretching in increasing hamstring flexibility . Design:  Pre test post test control group design.
Settings:  Physiotherapy Department, Majeedia hospital, Hamdard University, New Delhi.
Subjects:  30 healthy adult male subjects with hamstring tightness .
Measurement:  After measuring popliteal angle one group is given prolonged stretching and classic soft tissue mobilization where as the other group is given prolonged stretching for 10 minutes. Post treatment popliteal angle is measured. Intervention continue for five consecutive days and a follow-up measurement on 8th day.
Result:  Independent sample test was used to find out to compare the pretreatment and post treatment range of motion between groups. The result indicates that there was no significant difference in range of motion between the group (P>.05) Analysis of variance post hoc analysis was used to find the daily difference between pre and post treatment popliteal angle within each group. It was found that highly significant difference in pre and post treatment range of motion in both groups in all five days ( p< .05) and a significant decrease in range of motion in the follow up measurement(p<.05)
Conclusion:   The study result shows that classic soft tissue mobilisation does not give any significant assistance to stretching to improve hamstring flexibility. At the same time stretching with or without classic soft tissue mobilization causes significant increase in hamstring flexibility