Acute effects of active isolated stretching on vertical jump performance in active university students

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the acute effects of active isolated stretching on muscular peak power production. Sixty healthy, physically active volunteers (aged 18-28) participated as subjects in this study. Subjects were randomly assigned to two groups; the control group and the experimental group. Subjects performed pre and posttest measures of vertical jump test. The subjects in the control group were asked to perform a certain number of jumps with no stretching routine, while the subjects in the experimental group were asked to perform a set of jumps with active isolated stretching routine. The results calculated for this study did show to have a statistically significant difference in vertical jump performance between subjects who are put through an active isolated stretching regimen and subjects who do not perform any stretching exercises. Results showed that performing active isolated stretching prior to vertical jump performance resulted in significant drop in jumping height.

Keywords: Active isolated stretching; vertical jump performance; stretch-shortening cycle