Effects of Static Stretching on Electrodermal Activity, Electromyography, Muscle Force, and Muscle Fatigue

Abstract

Many Americans exercise to live a healthy lifestyle and be fit. A common precursor to many exercises is some form of stretching. Previous research has shown that static stretching may impact our performance in exercising by decreasing muscle output and increasing fatigue. In this study, we tested the impacts of static stretching on forearm muscles measured by maximum clench force, force at 50% of original strength, electrodermal activity, and electromyography. We used 30 participants from Physiology 435 Spring 2018 semester to perform two sets of exercises, one including stretching prior to clenching a hand dynamometer and one without this addition. We concluded that there was no significant change in our measured variables between the two trials.