Objective: To compare the relative effectiveness of 3 common standing stretches for the iliotibial band (ITB): arms at side (stretch A), arms extending overhead (stretch B), and arms reaching diagonally downward (stretch C).
Design: Each subject's biomechanics was captured as a 3-dimensional image by using a 4-camera gait acquisition system with a forceplate.
Setting: University biomotion laboratory.
Participants: Five male elite-level distance runners.
Interventions: All participants performed each of the 3 standing stretches for the ITB.
Main outcome measures: For each stretch, change in ITB tissue length and the force generated within the stretched complex was measured. Data were then combined and analyzed by using kinetic values assessment.
Results: All 3 stretches created statistically significant changes in ITB length (P<.05), but stretch B, incorporating overhead arm extension, was consistently most effective both for average ITB length change and average adduction moments at the hip and knee.
Conclusions: Adding an overhead arm extension to the most common standing ITB stretch may increase average ITB length change and average external adduction moments in elite-level distance runners.
Copyright 2002 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation