Abstract

Comparative effect of graston technique and muscle energy technique on the flexibility of hamstring muscle

Author(s): Alisha Noreen, Abdul Rashad, Fizza Naeem, Adiba, Rabia Intikhab, Christina Angela, Ayesha Sonia, Mehwish Tariq

Background: Flexibility is the most important aspect of physical fitness. The capacity to move a joint easily across its whole range of motion is referred to as flexibility (ROM). One of the frequently observed symptoms in people who lead sedentary lifestyles is hamstring tightness. Hamstring tightness can result in increased risk for injury. Our main objective is to evaluate which treatment is more effective in improving flexibility of hamstring muscle.

Aim: To compare the impact of the Graston technique and Muscle Energy Technique on the flexibility of the hamstring muscle

Materials and Methods: It is an experimental study conducted at Isra Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences Karachi Campus. A sample size of 30 individual having hamstring tightness were equally divided into two groups. Patients in group A were treated with the Graston Technique, whereas those in group B were given the Muscle Energy Technique. IBM-SPSS version 23.0 was used to analyse the data. Hamstring flexibility at days 1 and 12 was measured using the mean and standard deviation. Within-group analysis was performed using the paired sample t-test. To compare the post-treatment scores, a one-way analysis of variance was also performed.

Results: With a mean difference of 12.86 units, Graston was found to be very effective, whereas Muscle Energy increases flexibility by 11.40 units. The average hamstring muscle flexibility was 65.47±6.25 for the Graston group and 64.13±6.91 for the Muscle Energy group.

Conclusion: Graston technique was found to be more effective than muscle energy technique in improving hamstring flexibility.