Effects of Ipsilateral Anterior Thigh Soft Tissue Stretching on Passive Unilateral Straight-Leg Raise

Aaron Christiansen, Steven Clark, Daniel F. Hellman, Jane Winga Hugunin, Kate Meier Hurst, Shirley A. Sahrmann

Study Design: Randomized 3-group pretest-posttest with blind assessment of outcome. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of sagittal plane hold-relax exercise applied to the ipsilateral anterior thigh, and prone positioning on passive unilateral straight-leg raise measurements. Background: Straight-leg raising has been viewed as a measurement for hamstring muscle length, but literature suggests that other structures may affect this measurement. Methods and Measures: Sixty subjects (45 men, 15 women) qualified for inclusion in the study based on a straight-leg raise measurement of =65°. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups: control, static stretch, or sagittal plane hold-relax exercise. Pretest and posttest straight-leg raise measurements of the right lower extremity were performed for each subject. Results: A 1-way ANOVA of the change scores showed a significant difference between groups. A Tukey post hoc analysis of the change scores showed that means for both treatment groups differed significantly from the control group and from each other, with the sagittal plane hold-relax group exhibiting the largest change (mean of 7.8° ± 2.8°). Conclusions: The results of this study show that sagittal plane hold-relax exercise and passive prone results of this study show that sagittal plane hold-relax and passive prone positioning can significantly increase straight-leg raise range of motion; however, the sagittal plane hold-relax stretching of the anterior thigh is more effective than passive prone positioning. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 1999;29(1):4-12. Key Words: hamstrings, anterior thigh, anterior hip, hold-relax

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