African Educational Research Journal - Vol. 8(1) - Full Length Research Paper - Effect of PNF, ballistic and static stretching on range of motion after sports injury surgery in football athletes

Oct 15, 2026

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This applied descriptive and correlational study examined how proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF), ballistic, and static stretching influence muscle range of motion after sports injury surgery in soccer team athletes. The laboratory-based design used injured male student soccer players post-surgery (n=97). Data were analyzed with SPSS 20 using t-tests. Results indicated PNF stretching produced a significant improvement, static stretching showed a moderate effect, and ballistic stretching showed a low but significant effect on post-surgical range of motion.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Flexibility and rehabilitation after injury

PNF stretching method

Ballistic stretching technique

Static stretching techniques

African Educational Research Journal Vol. 8(1), pp. 105-109, March 2020 DOI: 10. 30918/AERJ.81.20.023 ISSN: 2354-2160 Full Length Research Paper Effect of PNF, ballistic and static stretching on the range of motion after sports injury surgery in football athletes Heidar Sajedi1*, Metin Bayram 1 and Murat Bilgiç2 1 Department of Physical Education, Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University, Ağrı, Turkey. 2School of Physical Education and Sports, Batman University, Turkey. Accepted 24 March, 2020 | ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF), ballistic, and static stretching exercises on the range of motion after sports injury surgery in soccer team athletes. The purpose of this research was an applied one, in terms of method was descriptive and correlational one. Therefore, in terms of data collection, the research method was the laboratory strategy. The statistical population of this study was injured male students of soccer players who had undergone surgery. The sample included 97 students (30 active ballistic, 30 active statics and 37 PNF stretching exercises) . Statistical analysis of the data was done by SPSS 20 software and t-test. Overall, the results showed that PNF stretching had a significant effect, statics stretching had moderate impact and ballistic stretching had a low but significant effect on the range of motion after sports injury in soccer athletes. That is, PNF had the best effect in terms of increasing the range of motion of the muscles after surgery, followed by static and ballistic stretching, respectively.
Keywords: PNF exercises, ballistic exercises, static exercises, muscle range, sports injury surgery. | | --- | | E-mail: [sajedy_haeidar@yahoo.com](sajedy_haeidar@yahoo.com). | INTRODUCTION The importance of flexibility in various researches is an important factor in the rehabilitation, injury prevention and performance improvement in athletes (Cayco et al. , 2016) . Some research suggests accelerating the process of recovery and rehabilitation of athletes in the post-injury period. These studies have each reported some kind of flexibility development due to the regular implementation of stretching programs (Weng et al. , 2009) . The PNF method is a tensile technique first used by Kabat to treat paralysis patients and then used by other researchers to increase flexibility and strength in diverse groups of athletes (Yuktasir and Kaya, 2009) . Holt, Travis, Okita, Sadie, Wertman, Blank, and Toni Gawa observed a greater increase in flexibility by combining PNF techniques with active (ballistic and static) techniques (Khamwong et al. , 2011) . The term PNF stands for Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (Ferber et al. , 2002) . PNF stretching is the method of accelerating or expanding the neuromuscular mechanism by stimulating deep receptors that can relax the muscle. This type of stretching is known to be the fastest and most effective method of improving static and passive flexibility (Krukowska et al. , 2016) . This type of stretch is a combination of passive stretching and isometric stretching to achieve maximum static flexibility. Most PNF tensile movements agree with isometric contraction of the muscles (Espejo-Antúnez et al. , 2016) . However, some PNF stretching techniques are performed with the contraction of the opposing muscles that have been stretched (Feland et al. , 2001) . In all of these, the essential thing is to stretch the muscle for 20 seconds before the next stretch and relax . The most common PNF stretching methods are a combination of agonist and antagonist contraction or stretching and relaxation (Khodayari and Dehghani , 2012) . In ballistic flexibility techniques, the torque of the body and limbs is used to move a member beyond its usual range of motion (Arceo et al. , 2018) . Some believe that this type of stretching is not a good way to improve flexibility and it causes injury (

FAQs

What was the purpose of the study?

To investigate the effect of PNF, ballistic, and static stretching exercises on the range of motion after sports injury surgery in soccer athletes.

How was the study conducted and analyzed?

The research used an applied descriptive and correlational, laboratory-based strategy. Data were analyzed using SPSS 20 with t-tests.

Which stretching method showed the best effect after surgery?

PNF stretching had the best effect for increasing post-surgical range of motion, followed by static and then ballistic stretching.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford