In the treatment of spasticity, therapists make extensive use of inhibiting postures and manual stretching of the hypertonic muscles to reduce the muscle tone and, hence, improve the active ROM.10-15 Of the various clinical stretching modalities,prolonged muscle stretching (PMS) is a commonly used clinical approach. In this technique, the ankle joint is deliberately stretched and then maintained in a fixed position for an extended period of time.9-22 Clinical studies have applied the requisite stretching force either by the use of a rigid splint or bymeans of the patient’s own body weight when standing on a tilted table. A significant increase in the passive ROM (PROM) and a decrease in the passive resistance of the ankle dorsiflexion have both been observed in paraparetic and CP patients after a treatment session of PMS.10-13,15 However, it is noted that some researchers have reported contradictory results. For
example, Kunkel et al14 stated that spasticity in paraparetic subjects did not improve significantly after stretching on a
standing frame for 45 minutes twice daily during a period of 5 months