Do Stretching Variations Affect Performance? A Comparison of Full-Body and Lower-Limb Stretching on Explosive Power and Agility Reaction Time

Stretching exercise is one of the most commonly used strategies for pre-exercise warm-up and post-exercise recovery, and its physiological effects involve muscle flexibility, neuromuscular control, and joint range of motion. However, empirical evidence regarding the acute effects of different stretching scopes on jumping ability and agility remains relatively limited, as most previous studies have focused on individual muscles or localized muscle groups. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the effects of static stretching involving different body regions, specifically whole-body and lower-limb stretching, on explosive performance and agility.

A pretest-intervention-posttest design will be adopted. A total of 60 healthy university students (30 males and 30 females) are expected to be recruited and randomly assigned to a whole-body stretching group (10 males and 10 females), a lower-limb stretching group (10 males and 10 females), or a control group (10 males and 10 females). The duration of the static stretching intervention will be standardized to 14 minutes. The whole-body stretching group will perform stretching exercises targeting the major muscle groups of the upper limbs, trunk, and lower limbs, whereas the lower-limb stretching group will focus on key lower-limb muscle groups, including the quadriceps, hamstrings, and gastrocnemius. The control group will remain seated quietly for 14 minutes without performing any stretching exercise.

Participants will undergo a series of physical performance assessments before and after the intervention. Jump performance will be evaluated using the standing long jump, squat jump, countermovement jump, and drop jump. All jump-related data will be recorded using a Vmaxpro wireless inertial measurement sensor (BM Sports Technology GmbH, Germany), providing key parameters such as jump height, peak velocity, and peak power. Agility will be assessed using the T-Test and Hexagon Agility Test.

It is hypothesized that excessive static stretching may cause an acute reduction in muscular strength and explosive performance. The whole-body stretching group may demonstrate only a slight decrease in jump performance while maintaining relatively stable agility performance, whereas the lower-limb stretching group may exhibit changes in both jump and agility performance. The findings of this study are expected to clarify the relationship between the scope of static stretching and subsequent physical performance and may provide evidence to support the design of pre-exercise warm-up strategies and physical therapy interventions.