THE IMMEDIATE EFFECT OF M2T BLADE IN INCREASING HAMSTRING FLEXIBILITY OF RECREATIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYERS: A PRE-POST TREATMENT DESIGN

M.P. Hernandez¹, C.R. Rimando^1,2

Background: Various studies have emphasized the importance of lack of flexibility as a danger for hamstring injuries for athletes at all levels of competition. Lack of hamstring extensibility was the single most critical characteristics of hamstring injuries among athletes. Flexibility is a factor that needs to be addressed in order to ensure optimal competency of an athlete. There are various ways that physical therapists employ to increase hamstring flexibility. One of the most common means is by stretching and use of myofascial release. M2T Blade is a tool used for myofascial release. The focus of this study is on M2T Blade since it is a newly developed technique and availability of established evidences pertaining to it are still limited in relation to the improvement of flexibility, including the hamstrings (Naik et al. 2016, Bulbuli et al. 2107, Motimath et al. 2017).

Purpose: The aim of the study is to determine the immediate effect of M2T Blade on hamstring flexibility of recreational basketball players.

Methods: The study used the pre-post study design comparing the use of M2T Blade for myofascial release together with standard treatment as the experimental group (M2T+PNF) versus standard treatment alone as the control group (PNF). The standard treatment included proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation contract-relax technique. A total of 40 recreational basketball players with inflexible hamstring muscles were recruited and randomly assigned to either M2T+PNF or PNF group. The hamstring flexibility was measured by performing passive straight leg raise (PSLR) and passive knee extension angle (PKEA) pre- and post-intervention. The results were analyzed using independent-samples and paired-samples t-tests.

Results: The PNF group had a statistically significant change on the PSLR (p=0.01) and PKEA (p=0.03) values pre- and post-intervetion. The M2T+PNF group also significantly improved the PSLR (p=0.01) and PKEA (p=0.02) values pre- and post-intervetion. The hamstring flexibility increased more with M2T+PNF (76.31+/-8.84) as compared to PNF alone (72.90+/-10.18) during PSLR with a p value of <0.01. The hamstring flexibility also increased more with M2T+PNF (56.48+/-4.52) as compared to PNF alone (54.57+/-3.52) during PKEA with a p value of 0.04.

Conclusion(s): This study finds M2T Blade a useful adjunct in physical therapy intervention in immediately improving the flexibility of the hamstring muscle when combined with proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation contract-relax technique.

Implications: In as much as flexibility is paramount in recreational athletes to prevent injuries and to improve performance, every recreational athlete may not have this initially especially when they are starting to participate and compete in leisure events. Consequently, before long term flexibility programs take effect and benefit an athlete, immediate and short term program must be in place to prevent detrimental outcomes. The study’s importance leads to establishing an immediate effect in increasing hamstring flexibility among recreational athletes. Further studies are needed to determine its long-term effect.

Funding, acknowledgements: No funding was received.

Keywords: Flexibility, Hamstrings, M2T Blade

Topic: Musculoskeletal

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: University of Santo Tomas

Committee: UST Graduate School Ethics Review Committee

Ethics number: GS-2019-PN016