Ali Raza, Arshia Ijaz, Muhammad Saadan Saqib, Idrees Ahmed Zahoor, Irfan Ahmed, Nouman Abid.
Effectiveness of Hamstring Stretching versus Muscle Energy Technique on Hamstring Flexibility in patients with Non-specific Knee Pain; a Randomized Clinical Trial.
Healer J Physiotherap Rehab Jan ;3(7):671-81.

Background: The muscle energy technique is one of the best methods to increase range of motion restricted due to muscle spasms and shortening. There is a large number of studies supporting the use of the muscle energy technique for pain and soft tissue mobility but very few studies exist that measure the comparison of this technique with simple stretching. Objective: To determine the effectiveness of hamstring stretching versus muscle energy technique on hamstring flexibility in patients with non-specific knee pain. Methods: This randomized trial was conducted at Bakhtawar Amin Trust Teaching Hospital, Multan, Pakistan in which patients with non-traumatic knee pain aged from 20 to 50 years were recruited in a study using a non-probability purposive sampling technique. The sample size of this study was 30 which was calculated by expecting a mean pain change of 95% power of study and 5% level of significance. Ethical approval was granted by the Office of Medical Superintendent and from the Department of Physical Therapy of Bakhtawar Amin trust teaching hospital, Multan, Pakistan. Before collecting data, a written consent form in Urdu was signed by every patient recruited. Group A was supposed to receive muscle energy technique while Group B was supposed to receive static stretching. The statistical test employed was an independent sample t-test for baseline and was employed for comparing the post-intervention scores of every variable for the two groups. The between-group difference was calculated using an independent sample t-test while the difference within the groups was calculated using repeated measure ANOVA. Results: In this study the effectiveness of METs and hamstring stretching was calculated in patients with knee pain. Out of 30 participants, 16(53.33%) were males and 14(46.66%) were females. The mean and standard deviation of age of muscle energy technique group was 42.47 +- 4.16 and that of hamstring stretching group was 44.48 +- 4.37. The demographic data and scores of all the variables at the baseline of both groups were calculated. Conclusion: This study concludes that both the techniques muscle energy technique and stretching both are equally effective in reducing non-specific knee pain and improving the flexibility of hamstring muscles.

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