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Sex-related differences in stretch-induced musculotendinous stiffness changes

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Abstract

Purpose

Musculotendinous stiffness (MTS) measurement is valuable for assessing stretch-induced effects for sports injury prevention. There is no consensus on whether there are sex-related differences in MTS reduction by stretching, and no effective stretching protocol exists. We aimed to investigate the sex-related differences in stretch-induced MTS changes.

Methods

Fifteen healthy men (22.0 ± 1.0 years) and fifteen healthy women (22.3 ± 1.1 years) performed stretching of the ankle plantar flexors for four sets of 30 s each. MTS was measured before and after each set of stretching.

Results

A significant two-way interaction (time × sex) was found for MTS (p = 0.021). MTS significantly decreased after one set of stretching in men (p = 0.024) and after three sets in women (p = 0.001). MTS after one and four sets of stretching was significantly higher in men than in women (p = 0.038 and p = 0.019, respectively).

Conclusion

Fewer stretching sets are needed for men compared with that required for women to decrease MTS, and the MTS change is greater for men. Thus, the patient’s sex should be considered when designing an optimum stretching protocol.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.

Abbreviations

MTS:

Musculotendinous stiffness

ROM:

Range of motion

CTS:

Constant torque stretching

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude to all the participants who took part in this study.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

    Miho Komatsuzaki

  2. Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, West 5, North 12, Kita-Ku, Sapporo, 060-0812, Japan

    Mina Samukawa, Kensuke Oba, Yuta Koshino, Tomoya Ishida, Satoshi Kasahara & Harukazu Tohyama

Authors
  1. Miho Komatsuzaki
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  2. Mina Samukawa
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  3. Kensuke Oba
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  7. Harukazu Tohyama
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Contributions

Study conception and design (all authors); material preparation, data collection, and analysis (MK and KO); original draft preparation (MK); review and critical revision of the manuscript (all authors). All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mina Samukawa.

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The authors report no potential conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

This study was approved by the ethics committee of Hokkaido University (approval number: 22 − 76) and conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

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All participants were informed of the details of this study and provided written consent prior to participation.

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Komatsuzaki, M., Samukawa, M., Oba, K. et al. Sex-related differences in stretch-induced musculotendinous stiffness changes. Sport Sci Health (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-023-01153-w

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