The influence of chronic stretch on the gastrocnemius muscles of able bodied adults

To improve strength, numerous methods have been suggested as alternatives to resistance training. One method of interest is passive chronic stretching. The hypothesis was that chronic stretching will result in increase in muscle mass as compared to strength training and that chronic stretch will increase ankle dorsiflexion angle. Two groups either stretch or strength trained for eight weeks. MRI analysis was used to evaluate gastrocnemius muscle mass before and after training. There were no differences in muscle mass pre and post training in the two groups. Chronic stretch did increase ankle passive dorsiflexion ROM. It can be concluded that chronic stretch did not provide enough stimuli to induce muscle hypertrophy.