Effects of skin stretching without joint movement on skin extensibility of rats.
Atsushi Tasaka, Takeya Ono, Hideki Ishikura and 5 others
PMID 27799714WHAT IT FOUND
In rats with ankle fixation, skin stretching without joint movement did not restore skin extensibility to control levels, but it was better than fixation alone.
Key findings
01Skin stretching without joint movement did not prevent reduced skin extensibility compared with control, but it was significantly higher than fixation alone.
02Mean distension distance was 5.1 mm in control, 2.8 mm in fixation, and 3.7 mm in stretching.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study was done in rats, not in people, so it does not show what would happen in a patient's ankle. Only 18 rats were used, with six in each group. The experiment lasted one week, so it cannot show long-term effects. The outcome was skin extensibility, not joint range of motion, muscle length, function, or contracture development. Even the stretching group had lower skin extensibility than the control group. The authors did not examine skin structure or biochemical changes, so the mechanism is not established.
The easy way to misread this
Do not apply this to patients as evidence that skin stretching prevents contracture. The study was in rats, and the stretching group also had ankle fixation and still had lower skin extensibility than control.