The Acute Effects of Hold–Relax Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation With Vibration Therapy on Glenohumeral Internal-Rotation Deficit

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Sport Rehabilitation

Abstract

Context:

Clinicians use various stretching techniques to prevent the onset of and treat glenohumeral internal-rotation deficit (GIRD). It is unknown which stretching technique is the most effective.

Objective:

To investigate the acute effects of hold–relax proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) with and without vibration therapy on internal rotation in individuals with GIRD.

Design:

2-within (stretch × time) comparison with repeated measures.

Setting:

Controlled laboratory.

Participants:

11 male current and former overhead athletes (19.8 ± 1.4 y, 184.5 ± 4.5 cm, 91.8 ± 11.6 kg) who presented with GIRD.

Interventions:

At 3 separate sessions, participants performed 1 of 3 randomly assigned stretches: hold–relax PNF (PNF), hold–relax PNF in combination with a whole-body-vibration unit set at 30 Hz (PNF-V), and static stretch (SS). Pretest and posttest maximum passive glenohumeral internal-rotation measurements were taken with a digital protractor.

Main Outcome Measures:

The dependent variables were the mean glenohumeral internal-rotation measurements taken at the pretest and posttest. The influence of stretch (PNF, PNF-V, and SS) and time (pretest and posttest) on mean glenohumeral internal rotation was compared using a 3 × 2 factorial ANOVA with repeated measures on both variables (P ≤ .05).

Results:

There was a stretch-by-time interaction (F2,20 = 34.697, P < .001). Post hoc testing revealed that the PNF posttest (73.0° ± 10.4°) was greater than the PNF pretest (60.0° ± 11.8°), the PNF-V posttest (74.7° ± 10.0°) was greater than the PNF-V pretest (57.4° ± 10.4°), and the SS posttest (67.0° ± 10.7°) was greater than the SS pretest (60.1° ± 9.4°). When comparing the posttest values, the PNF-V posttest was greater than the SS posttest.

Conclusions:

All 3 stretches (PNF, PNF-V, and SS) resulted in acute increases in glenohumeral internal rotation in individuals presenting with GIRD. The PNF-V stretch resulted in the greatest increase and would be the most clinically beneficial for patients with GIRD.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1123/jsr.2014-0329

Publication Date

2016

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