Comparing the effectiveness of static stretching and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretching in treating delayed onset muscle soreness in calf muscles of runners

To evaluate the comparative effectiveness of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) and static stretching in relieving pain, increasing range of motion and improving functional disability in runners suffering from calf muscle delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). In this randomized controlled trial a sample size of 48 patients was taken from various gymnasiums of Faisalabad which were randomly allocated into 3 groups. Group A (n=16) received static stretching, Group B (n=16) received PNF stretching and Group C (n=16) received no intervention being the passive control group. Patients’ pain, range of motion (ROM) and lower extremity functional scale (LEFS) were assessed every 24 h after onset of DOMS for 5 days. No significant difference of age was observed between all groups. Significant improvement was demonstrated in all outcome measures across 5 days of treatment in subjects of all 3 groups with p < 0.05 by using Repeated Measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results of one–way ANOVA demonstrated significant improvement in all outcome measures including pain, range of motion and lower extremity functional scale. But most significant improvement was observed in the PNF group. PNF stretching has proved to be relatively more effective than static stretching in reducing pain and improving range of motion and lower extremity functional scale scores in runners suffering from calf muscle DOMS.