Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is a common response to activities involving lengthening contractions. Muscle inflammation is associated with DOMS and may play an integral role in protecting a muscle from damage and soreness in response to subsequent bouts of lengthening contractions. Research in animals has shown that prior exposure to passive stretching and isometric contractions of a muscle resulting in muscle inflammation attenuates the muscle inflammatory response following subsequent bouts of lengthening contractions. The purpose of this study was to determine whether passive stretching and isometric contractions in humans would reduce DOMS following a typical bout of resistance exercise. METHODS: Thirty untrained male subjects were assigned to a control (C), stretching (S) or isometric (I) contraction group (n=10/group). In the week prior to the typical resistance training bout subjects in S and I were exposed to 3 separate sessions involving 5 minutes of passive stretching or maximal isometric contractions, respectively. Passive and active soreness, thigh girth, and relaxed knee angle were assessed prior to intervention and on days 1, 2, 4, and 8 following the bout of resistance exercise. RESULTS: Passive and active muscle soreness increased similarly in all groups. However, active soreness returned higher values than passive soreness at several time points following resistance exercise. Peak soreness occurred at 48h post exercise. Thigh girth and relaxed knee angle reached their highest values at 5 minutes following resistance exercise however there were no differences between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrates that a typical bout of resistance exercise is sufficient to cause measurable levels of DOMS in untrained subjects and that subjects are more sensitive to active measures of DOMS compared to a passive assessment. Nevertheless the passive stretching and isometric contraction interventions did nothing to reduce DOMS in the current subjects.

Fundação de Apoio a Pesquisa e à Inovação Tecnológica do Estado de Sergipe - FAPITEC/SE / The objective was to analyze Global Active Stretching (GAS) practice concerning strength enhancement and injury prevention support in combat sports, it was inspected the effect of regular GAS practice on the performance of judo practioners, in physical tests and analysed the GAS effect in supporting the maintenance and restitution of normal values of upper limbs thermal asymmetry in jiu-jitsu practioners. The sample for these studies was composed by 12 judo practioners, for the period of 10 weeks and 18 jiu-jitsu practioners for the period of three consecutive days. They were separated into experimental group and control group. For judo practioners, the results show that the regular practice of GAS optimized the flexibility gain and vertical jump, with a gain of 3.00 ± (1.09) cm and 2.49 ± (0.63) cm respectively, and did not reflect on the results of the other tests. For jiu-jitsu practioners, the regular practice of GAS enhanced the healing process for the forearm area after competition, decrease in the ΔTP (°C) of 0.18°C. Therefore the regular practice of GAS increases the flexibility of back chain and the performance in vertical jump CMJ, for judo practioners, and does not interfere at the maintenance of normality of thermal , for contralateral upper limbs areas, in jiu jitsu athletes being able to restore normal values of thermal asymmetry in the forearm posterior region. / Objetivando analisar a prática do Stretching Global Ativo (SGA) para otimização da força e auxílio na prevenção de lesões em esportes de combate, verificou-se o efeito da prática regular do SGA no desempenho de judocas em uma bateria de testes físicos, assim como o efeito dessa prática no auxílio da manutenção e restituição de valores normais da assimetria térmica para membros superiores de jiujitsukas. Para compor a amostra dos estudos foram recrutados 12 judocas no período de 10 semanas e 18 jiujitsukas por três dias consecutivos, divididos em grupo experimental e grupo controle. Os resultados apontam que a prática regular do SGA potencializou o ganho de flexibilidade e impulsão vertical, com ganho de 3,00 ± 1,09 cm e 2,49 ± 0,63 respectivamente, e não foi prejudicial em outros testes para atletas de judô. Já para jiujitsukas, a prática do SGA acelerou o processo de recuperação para região do antebraço após a competição, diminuindo em 0,18°C o ΔTP (°C). Conclui-se que, a prática do SGA aumenta a flexibilidade da cadeia posterior e o desempenho no salto vertical de judocas, e não prejudica a manutenção da normalidade térmica em regiões contralaterais dos membros superiores de competidores de jiu jitsu podendo restituir valores normais de assimetria térmica na região posterior do antebraço.