Acute effect of hamstring stretching performed with proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation technique on the endurance of neck deep flexor muscles in healthy individuals

The superficial posterior line is one of the eight main fascial lines defined on the body. One of the important muscle groups on this line is the hamstring muscle group. Studies have shown that various stretching methods applied to the hamstring muscle group affect the cervical region both in terms of range of motion and posture. Our aim in our study is to examine the effect of the propioceptive neuromuscular stretching (PNF) method applied to the hamstring muscle group on the endura of the deep neck flexors based on these data. 66 healthy female individuals participated in our study. Participants were divided into two groups as the Control group (CG) and the PNF group (PG) according to the order of participation in the study by simple randomization method. Both groups had similar body mass indexes (p=0.472), body weights (p=0.383), heights (p=0.692) and ages (p=0.142). Hypermobility scores, hamstring muscle flexibility and deep neck flexor endurance of both CG and PG were measured. Afterwards, no procedure was applied to CG, while PNF stretching methods such as hold-relax were applied to PG. Then, deep neck flexor endurance of both groups was measured again. When we look at the evaluations within the groups, both groups increased their deep neck flexor endurance in the second trial with a significant difference (p<0.05). However, when we look at the deep neck flexor endurance change between the groups, the change in PG showed a significant change compared to CG. (p<0.05). As a result of this study, it was shown that deep neck flexor endurance increased in women who applied the PNF hold-relax method.