JOURNAL OF LIAONING TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

COMPARING THE EFFECTS OF MULLIGAN’S TRACTION STRAIGHT LEG RAISE AND BENT LEG RAISE TECHNIQUE ON HAMSTRING FLEXIBILITY AMONG THE HEALTHY YOUNG FEMALE STUDENTS

Neelum Mehmood, Dr shahid sarwar, Akhtar Rasul, Fatima mazhar, Dr Rabbyya Kausar, Nimra Noor

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND:Most important reason of pain in lower back region and legs in healthy females are tight hamstrings. Hamstrings muscles are large fast –twitch muscles present on back of thighs and a large number of individuals have tight hamstrings occur just because of prolong sitting time or due to poor posture.For its cure different stretching techniques are used but according to researches only 10 to 15% of possible maximum length will be improved by stretching.

AIM OF STUDY:The aim of this study was to compare the effects of Mulligan’s traction straight leg raise and bent Leg raise technique on hamstring flexibility among the healthy young females.

Hypothesis:

Any one of Null hypothesis:Both treatments are equally effective. The treatment was more effective than the other in management of pain, function and quality of life in healthy females with tight hamstrings.

Methodology:This RCT was carried out in the setting of women Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences. Included 40 subjects were recruited, through toss & trial method, screened per inclusion criteria and divided into two groups A and B. Data was collected by self-designed questionnaire and ranges were measured through goniometer and measuring tape. Group A received straight leg raise (TSLR) & group B received traction bent leg raise (TBLR). Warm up exercises were performed prior to techniques for 10 minutes and then (TSLR) was applied to group A and (BLR) was applied to group B.

RESULT:In this research subject with minimum age 21 and maximum age 24with the mean value and standard deviation of variable age was 22.95 and 0.846.After checking data normality by using Mann-Whitney U test for comparison between groups and revealed that mean and standard deviation of post treatment of variable active SLR of right leg of group A was 78.30±10.27 and left leg was 80.95±9.48 and for group B Right leg was 89.25±12.59 while left leg was 88.55±17.10 and its p-value is greater than 0.05 that is 0.09 which shows that Group B (TBLR) showed significantly improved hamstring flexibility and independent sample T test for variable sit and reach test revealed, after treatment mean and standard deviation of pretreatment and post treatment for group A was 11.68±5.067 and 9.57±5.22 and its mean difference was 2.11±0.16. Mean and standard deviation of pretreatment and post treatment for group B was 12.33±4.985 and 10.08±5.645 and its mean difference was 2.25±0.66and its p-value 0.751 that is greater than 0.05.These values shows that both techniques traction straight leg raise(TSLR) and traction bent leg raise(TBLR) were equally effective statistically as well as clinically in improving Hamstring Flexibility.

CONCLUSION:In conclusion, this study of Comparison of the effects of Mulligan’s traction straight leg raise and bent Leg raise technique on hamstring flexibility among the healthy young females confirmed that both treatments are statistically as well as clinically equally effective for decreasing hamstring tightness or improving Hamstring Flexibility. Patients can take benefit from (TBLR and TSLR) treatment and can improve range of motion (ROM) of hamstrings, can improve flexibility of these muscles, can reduce back pain due to radiculopathy and can improve their activity of daily living (ADLs).

KEY WORDS:Straight leg raise, bent leg raise, range of motion, activity of daily living.