The Effects of Acute Static and Ballistic Stretching Techniques on the Proximal Tibia Anterior Shear Forces during Forward Stop-Jump Performance

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is a common occurrence in sports requiring stop-jump performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of acute static and ballistic stretching techniques on the proximal tibia anterior shear forces during forward stop-jump. The study samples consisted of 12 healthy athletic men who attended to the laboratory 3 times in 3 other days (the effects of previous stretching to be completely faded). All kinetics and kinematics data from Force Plate and Motion Analysis System were used in Matlab. One-way analysis of variance test and Paired Samples T-Test were used to analyze the data. Paired Samples T-Test showed a significant effect of static stretching technique on anterior shear force. One-way analysis of variance test showed the interaction of the proximal tibia anterior shear force of all groups. This study revealed that the proximal tibia anterior shear force was significantly decreased after static stretching (P= 0.016). Moreover, Tukey test showed a significant effect in acute static stretching technique (P= 0.010), whereas there was no significant difference in Ballistic stretching. The results of this study suggested that probably applying static stretching technique before forward stop-jump task can decrease the peak anterior shear force. This means ACL injuries can be prevented after this stretching technique. Collectively, it is suggested that athletes, coaches and physiotherapists can use static stretching technique for preventing the ACL injuries.