Mahoney, C. E., Coons, J. M., Kim, J, K., Farley, R. S., & Caputo, J. L. (2008). The chronic effects of static and dynamic stretching on agility as measured by the T-test. ACSM 55th Annual Meeting Indianapolis. Presentation number 2119.

This study determined the chronic effects of static stretching and dynamic stretching on agility. Female high school volleyball players were assigned to a static stretching (N = 13) or dynamic stretching (N = 12) group. The stretching intervention, either a static or dynamic hamstring stretch, was performed three days per week for four continuous weeks. Agility was assessed pre- and post-intervention using the T-test agility run.

There was an improvement in agility within the static stretching group. Between groups, there was no significant difference in the change in agility following the interventions. [This is a muddled conclusion because it does not allow one to assert that static is better than dynamic stretching since there was no difference between groups. Often, with a randomized groups experimental design, small differences through the assignment process are sufficient to cause within-group significant improvements but not between-group differences – as occurred here.]

Implication. Static stretching resulted in improvements in agility but there was no difference between dynamic and static stretching effects on agility over a four-week intervention period.

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