Establishment of a Novel Porcine Model to Study the Impact of Active Stretching on a Local Carrageenan-Induced Inflammation.
Dennis Muñoz Vergara, Lisbeth Berrueta, Colleen Carmody and 4 others
PMID 32427602WHAT IT FOUND
In pigs with induced inflammation, active stretching reduced lesion size by 36%.
The procedure was feasible and well-tolerated, but the study was too small to confirm effects on pain or tissue healing. This does not support changing clinical practice for human patients.
Key findings
01Active stretching significantly decreased the size of carrageenan-induced lesions by 36% compared to no stretching.
02Other measures, including lesion weight, inflammatory cell counts, and gene expression, showed no statistically significant differences.
03The study was a preliminary pilot with a small sample size, limiting the certainty of the findings.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study used a small number of pigs (n = 12) and was explicitly described as a pilot with insufficient power to draw firm conclusions. The findings are from an animal model with induced inflammation, which may not translate directly to human musculoskeletal conditions or pain. Only the lesion size showed a significant difference; other biological markers of inflammation and healing did not. The stretching protocol was adapted from veterinary techniques and may not be directly applicable to human therapy.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest were reported by the authors. The study was supported by NIH and non-US government funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the 36% reduction in lesion size as evidence that active stretching reduces inflammation or pain in humans. This was a small animal study with a single significant outcome, and most other measures showed no effect.