Background: With the increasing demand for healthcare devices, the home healthcare market has been continuously expanding. Objectives: This study examined how a home calf massager affects muscle tone and stiffness in the calf region and the active range of motion (AROM) of the ankle in healthy adults to determine whether the massager is suitable for healthcare use in healthy individuals. Design: A quasi-experimental clinical trial. Methods: The study included 20 healthy men in their 20s, analyzing changes in muscle tone and stiffness in the calf region, AROM of the ankle joint, and differences between the two legs before and after applying the home calf massager. Results: After using the home calf massager, significant reductions in muscle tone and stiffness were observed in the lateral gastrocnemius muscles on both sides, as well as in the stiffness of the medial gastrocnemius muscles on both sides (P<.05). The AROM of the ankle joint significantly increased in all cases of dorsiflexion, plantar flexion, inversion, and eversion (P<.05). Conclusion: The use of a home calf massager in healthy adult males did not impose a physiological burden on muscle tone and stiffness in the calf region and was effective in immediately improving ankle joint mobility.

The objective of this study was to determine the duration of maintained calf muscle flexibility gained in young adults with calf muscle tightness, as measured by increases in ankle active and passive dorsiflexion range of motion (DFROM) after three stretching interventions. Twenty subjects (5 men and 15 women) with calf muscle tightness received the following three stretching interventions in one leg (assigned at random): static stretching (SS), eccentric training on stable surface (ETS), and eccentric training on unstable surfaces (ETU). The subjects received all three interventions to the same leg, applied in a random order. Each intervention had a break of at least 24 h in-between, in order to minimize any carryover effect. Each intervention used two types of stretching: with the calf muscle stretched and both knees straight, and with the knee slightly bent in order to maximize the activation of the soleus muscle. All three interventions were performed for 200 seconds. We measured the duration of maintained calf muscle flexibility through active and passive ankle DFROM before intervention, immediately after intervention (time 0), and then 3, 6, 9, 15, and 30 min after intervention. We found a difference in the duration of maintained calf muscle flexibility between the three interventions. In the ETS and ETU interventions, a significant improvement in calf muscle flexibility, both ankle active and passive dorsiflexion ranges of motion (ADFROM and PDFROM), was maintained for 30 min. In the SS intervention, however, ADFROM before 9 min and PDFROM before 6 min were statistically different from the baseline. Our results suggest that ETS and ETU may be more effective than SS for maintaining calfmuscle flexibility in young adults.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of one proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation technique and static stretching on calf muscle tightness. The subjects consist of 9 hemiplegics, and 9 quadriplegics. The eighteen subjects were randomly divided into 3 groups: prorioceptive neuromuscular facilitation(6 persons), static stretching(6 persons) and control(6 persons). Contract relax antagonist contract and static stretching techniques were applied continuously for twenty minutes each. Of the many proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation techniques, only the contract relax antagonist contract technique was applied. The static stretching technique was applied with the subject placed in standing on a seventy degree inclined tilt table for twenty minutes. A wedge was placed under the feet to obtain maximum dorsiflexion. Wedge thickness varied with each subject. Results revealed: (1) a significant difference between the experimental and the control groups(p<0.05). (2) a significant difference between contract relax antagonist contract and static stretching groups(p<0.05). (3) At day five, the final increments were: contract relax antagonist contract , static stretching (meanstandard deviation).