AIM: To research and compared the effects of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching and puncturing Ashi point on delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) of triceps surae after a bout exhaustive eccentric exercise. METHODS: (1) Thirty healthy male students were selected from Shandong University of Technology from May to June in 2006, they were informed of the detection scheme and consented, then were randomly divided into 3 groups: PNF group, puncturing group and contrast group, each containing 10 subjects. (2) All the subjects were required to do 5 sets of frog-jumps (totally 60) in situ, and then ran along a 15 degrees slope on treadmill at the rate of 10 km per hour in order to induce DOMS. The treatment was first carried out instantly after exhaustive exercise, and then once every 24 hours, totally 4 times. PNF group: After 5-minute warm-ups and 10-minute PNF stretching exercise of triceps surae, the method of contraction-relaxation-stretching was adopted; Puncturing group: No.28 needle was inserted vertically in the distance from the painful point of muscle macroaxis, and the needle tip that directly aimed at the loose connective tissue layer was adjusted to prick into painful point at an oblique angle. The needle wound he stayed for 3 to 15 minutes without lifting, thrusting or twirling of needle if the subjects felt aching pain, and wound be withdrawn if the feeling disappeared or obviously relieved; Contrast group: The 15-minute basic activity included a 5-minute slow running and a 10-minute special activity. (3) American RT-1904C semi-automatic analyzer was used to detect the serum creatine kinase (SCK) activity before exercise and 24, 48 and 72 hours after exercise; The corresponding scale of mercury manometer was taken as subjective pain tolerance threshold, and the less pressure indicated the more obvious pain perception. All the tests were done in the right legs. Jump touching (recorded 3 times and selected the highest value) of each student was measured to reflect the muscle force of triceps surae. (4) Measurement data were analyzed with pairwise t test for intergroup comparison and with t test intragroup comparison. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted for SCK and subjective pain tolerance threshold. RESULTS: All 30 participators entered the final analysis. (1) SCK activity (reflecting the recovery of damaged muscle): At 48 and 72 hours of eccentric exercise, SCK of PNF group and puncturing group were notably lower than that of contrast group (t = 3.25 to 4.31, p < 0.01), and declined to the level before exercise at hour 72 (p > 0.05); The difference was significant between PNF group and puncturing group (p > 0.05). In addition, SCK activity of contrast group after exercise was obviously higher than that at rest (t = 4.80 to 10.62, p < 0.01). (2) The subjective pain tolerance threshold at different time points after exercise was obviously higher in PNF group and puncturing group than in contrast group (t = 2.63 to 4.19, p < 0.05 to 0.01), with the insignificant difference between PNF group and puncturing group (p > 0.05); After exercise, the threshold was markedly lower in contrast group than at rest (t = 4.43 to 16.61, p < 0.01), and only at hour 72 of exercise, the threshold was similar in PNF group and puncturing group to that at rest (p > 0.05). (3) Jump touching (reflecting the muscle force of triceps surae) was obviously higher in puncturing group than in contrast group at hour 24 after eccentric exercise (t = 3.28, p < 0.01); PNF group's jump touching was identical with dud of contrast group, but both groups were obviously lower than that at rest (t = 2.48 to 3.55, p < 0.01). (4) SCK activity at 48 and 72 hours after exercise had a significantly negative correlation with the subjective pain tolerance threshold expect at rest (r = -0.443 to 0.487, p < 0.05 to 0.01). CONCLUSION: (1) PNF stretching and puncturing can accelerate the recovery of damaged muscle and decline subjective pain tolerance threshold after a bout utmost eccentric exercise. (2) Compared with PNF stretching, puncturing Ashi point can obviously rise muscle force of athletes, especially at 24 hours after eccentric exercise. 3 The SCK activity and subjective pain tolerance threshold are correlated obviously at 48 and 72 hours after exercise, but the correlation is not significant within 24 hours after exercise.

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