THIRTY MINUTES OF PASSIVE STATIC STRETCHING

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THIRTY MINUTES OF PASSIVE STATIC STRETCHING WILL
REDUCE BLOOD GLUCOSE LEVELS Nelson Arnold1,
Kokkonen Joke2 (Louisiana State University1,
Brigham Young University- Hawaii2, USA)
Research indicates that passive stretching may
have the capability to reduce blood glucose
levels. In 1989, Hat-faludy et al. exposed
cultured avian muscles cells to repet-itive
stretch relaxations. After 4 hr,
3H-deoxy-D-glucose uptake increased 34. Also,
Mitsumoto et al. subjected L6 muscles cells to 24
hr of intermittent stretch-relaxation (25 max
elongation at 30 cycles/min), and saw a 1.6 fold
increase in 2-deoxy-D-Glucose uptake. Lastly,
Ihlemann et al. passively stretched rat soleii
for 5 min, and found a 50 increase in
2-deoxy-D-glucose uptake. These data suggest that
a persons blood glucose levels could notica-bly
decrease following a program of sustained
succesive passive static muscle stretches.
Hence, the ability of passive static stretching
to reduce blood glucose was investigated in 21
individuals (14 male, 7 female). 16 subjects had
at least 2 risk factors for Type 2 diabetes (i.e.
age 45 y and BMI gt 25). The other 5 were
diagnosed Type 2 diabetic, and were taking oral
medica-tions to control blood glucose levels. In
addition, 5 subjects were Caucasian, while the
others were mixed race (Asian, Caucasian, Pacific
Islander). Subjects were tested twice in a random
balanced order with 3 days between tests. For
each test the subjects reported to the lab 2 hr
post-prandial, and immediately drank a 355 ml can
of fruit juice (43 g car-bohydrate). 30 min after
drinking the juice, the subjects ei-ther went
through either 40 min of passive static stretches
or mock passive stretches. Blood glucose levels
were an-alyzed from a finger prick blood drop,
using a hand held glucometer (Ascensia Breeze
Blood Glucose Meter). Val-ues were obtained at
pre (0 min), mid (20 min), and post (40 min) for
both the stretching or mock stretching days. The
stretching program consisted of 5 lower body and
5 upper body passive static stretches. For each
stretch, the muscle was held in the stretched
position for 30 s, and was repeated 4 times. A 15
s relaxation period separated each repeat, and a
minimum 30 s separated the different exer-cises.
Each time, the experimenters pushed or pulled the
specified body part until they receive verbal
acknowledg-ment that the stretch was strongly
felt. The experimenters then held that body part
steady for 30 s. At the end of the stretch, the
body part returned to a neutral position for 15
s. For mock stretches, the person assumed the
positions, but no tension was placed on the
musculature. During mock stretch, blood glucose
concentration (mg/dl) did not significantly
changed until 40 min (0 min 161 70, 20 min
15966, 40 min 14268). Stretching on the hand
resulted in a significant (p lt 0.05) drop in
blood glucose concentration from 0 min 17067
to 20 min 14068 and 40 min 12552. (Values
mean standard deviation) These results suggest
that passive static stretching of the skeletal
muscles may be an alternative to exercise to help

lower blood glucose levels. Since there are many
type 2 diabetics who will not exercise, passive
static stretches may be an ideal alternative
treatment modality. References Hatfaludy et al.
Am J Physiol 256 C175-C181, 1989. Ihlemann et
al. Am J Physiol 277 E208-E214, 1999.
Mitsumoto et al. FEBS Lett 301 94-98, 1992.
Keywords Stretching, Glucose, Diabetes
12thAnnual Congress of the ECSS, 1114 July 2007,
Jyväskylä, Finland I