A Study to Compare the Immediate Effect of PNF Stretching and Dynamic Stretching during Warm - up on 12 Minute Cooper Run Test Performance and Modified Sit and Reach Test among Young Individual: A Comparative Study

Background and objectives: Warming - up prior to a competitive exercise bout and physical activity is a widely accepted practice in the modern day sporting environment. Measurement of physical fitness is a common and appropriate practice in preventive and rehabilitative exercises programs. Extensive research has been conducted over the past decade to determine the key warm - up elements for specific exercise tasks on various field test like 12minute cooper run test. But there are limited evidence where PNF stretching warm up and Dynamic stretching warm - up are compared. Methods: The study was conducted on 150 young individuals who were selected according to selection criteria. Each group consisted of 75 subjects Group A was given PNF stretching warm - up and Group B was given Dynamic stretching warm - up. Result: Intra - group comparison for 12minute cooper run test and modified sit and reach test was done by Wilcoxon sign rank test and inter - group comparison for 12minute cooper run test and modified sit and reach test was done by Mann Whitney U test. The results revealed that the both Group showed significant improvement in 12 minute cooper run test and modified sit and reach test. Also, between group comparison revealed significant difference between the two techniques in 12 minute cooper run test (z value= - 7.599, p valueless than0.05) modified sit and reach test (z value= - 3.621, p value less than0.05) for young individual. Conclusion: It can be concluded that both PNF stretching warm - up and Dynamic stretching warm - up are effective for improving performance and flexibility. But PNF stretching warm up group seems to have more effect on improving performance and flexibility as compare to Dynamic stretching warm - up group.