Stretching is commonly prescribed for increasing flexibility and range of motion, enhancing muscular coordination, and preventing prolonged immobilization. However, emerging evidence suggests that short-term (acute) or long-term (chronic) stretching exercise may have beneficial cardiovascular responses as well. Researchers from University of Iowa conducted a review to highlight potential relationships between skeletal muscle stretching and cardiovascular
A new study study from Germany investigated whether watching one’s back during massage increases the analgesic effect of this treatment in chronic lower back pain patients. The research, published European Journal of Pain, was inspired by previous research findings that suggest visual feedback on treating chronic pain can exert an analgesic effect. Twenty patients with
Bodily feelings are commonly thought to reflect the biological state of our body tissues. A new research from the University of South Australia now stated that feelings of back stiffness are a protective perceptual construct, rather than reflecting biomechanical properties of the back. This idea has implications for treatment of pain/stiffness but also for our
It is well recognized that stretching is an effective method to increase long-term joint range of motion. However, the effects of stretch training on the muscle-tendon structural properties remain unclear. Published in the August 2017 edition of Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, a group of researchers from Portugal, France, and Serbia conducted
