The Immediate Effect of Two Types of Slow and Fast Dynamic Stretching after Functional Fatigue on Knee Flexion in Professional Male Volleyball Players

The purpose of this study was to examine the immediate effect of two types of dynamic stretching with different speeds after functional fatigue on maximum knee flexion during landing in professional male volleyball players. Thirty-six professional male volleyball players in Kerman with age of 18-23 year old (age: 20.6 ± 2.1 years, height: 185.9 ± 6.5 cm, weight: 77.2 ± 8 kg) were objectively selected and randomly divided into 3 groups: dynamic slow stretching, dynamic fast stretching and control group (n=12 per group). In order to apply fatigue, functional fatigue protocol for volleyball and for recovery two types of slow and fast dynamic stretching were used. The mix repeated measure showed a significant decrease fatigue in the maximum flexion of the knee joint in the pre-test and post-test after fatigue in the all groups. However, after applying the recovery protocol, only slow dynamic group was showed significant increase in the maximum flexion of the knee joint in the pre-test and post-test (P = 0.001). No significant difference among groups was found (P= 0.430). It can be concluded that slow dynamic stretching can be appropriate recovery method at the end of the competition and practice for athletes to remove negative effect of fatigue, especially for volleyball players. They can use slow dynamic stretching to improve the performance and prevent lower limb injuries, especially the anterior cruciate ligament. But the fast dynamic stretching is not an appropriate method for recovery in volleyball players.