A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RETRO WALKING AND ACTIVE STRETCHING ON HAMSTRING FLEXIBILITY IN STUDENTS FROM AGE GROUP 18 TO 24 YEARS

Ms. Apurwa Vijay Kashtikar; G.D. Vishnu Vardhan

Volume : IX, Issue : III, March - 2020

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RETRO WALKING AND ACTIVE STRETCHING ON HAMSTRING FLEXIBILITY IN STUDENTS FROM AGE GROUP 18 TO 24 YEARS

Ms. Apurwa Vijay Kashtikar, G. D. Vishnu Vardhan

Abstract :

Background: The Hamstring muscles are found to be the most prevalent for the tightness in the body. Muscular flexibility is an important aspect of normal human function. Limited flexibility has been shown to predispose a person to several musculoskeletal overuse injuries and significantly affect a person�s level of function. The purpose of this study was to compare effectiveness of retro walking along with active stretching and just active stretching on hamstring tightness among college going students age 18 to 24 years. Objective: Objective of the study is to determine the effect of retro walking along with active stretching and just active stretching in students from the age group of 18 to 24 years. Methodology: Simple Random Sampling was done for 40 college students, at Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam College of Physiotherapy, Loni. The subjects were taken in the age range of 18–24 years. Students were randomly allocated to either of the two groups, based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Pre–intervention assessment i.e. Sit and Reach Test was done before and after the intervention and then intervention was given for 10 minutes, over a span of 3 days per week for 4 weeks and then post–intervention assessment was done and their scores were noted. And then the scores in both the group were analyzed and compared using student�s �t� test. Results: The post intervention Sit and Reach Test mean scores for Group A i.e. Retro walking along with Active stretching i.e. were 13.15�1.694 and Group B i.e. Active stretching were 10.6�1.586 respectively. There was statistically difference found between the groups, which showed both were beneficial (p<0.001 extremely significant), the �t� value was removed using paired �t� test. The value of t in Group A is (t=7.51) and Group B is (t=2.93). Discussion and conclusion: The study concluded that Retro–walking with active stretching is more effective in comparison to active stretching in increasing hamstring flexibility in college students from age group 18–24 years.