@article{regima_asia_balakrishnan_asia_arumugam_sabitha_regima_asia_regima_balakrishnan_et al._2016, 
  title={A comparative study on the effect of hot pack and ultrasound therapy prior to passive stretching on the extensibility of plantar flexors among Asia Metropolitan University students}, 
  volume={357}, 
  abstractNote={Title: A comparative study on the effect of hot pack and ultrasound therapy prior to passive stretching on the extensibility of plantar flexors among Asia Metropolitan University students. Background: Reduced ankle dorsiflexion is a common problem which will cause calf pain. Limited dorsiflexion is so often caused by tight calf muscles and is itself linked to injuries such as Achilles tendonitis and plantar fasciitis. When the motion at the ankle is restricted, the ankle tries to compensate by increasing pronation at the foot, which as we have already seen can overwork the tibialis posterior muscle, lie deep inside the calf. Common causes of tight calf muscles appear in those who wear high heels because their feet are automatically pointed downward in a plantar-flexed position because of their high heels. A muscle needs to be at its ideal resting length to produce optimal performance. A tight, shortened muscle doesn't have the same range when it comes to contracting that a muscle of a healthy length has. Objective: To compare the effect of hot pack and ultrasound therapy prior to passive static stretching on the extensibility of plantar flexors. Design: A Quasi Experimental Design Subjects: About 30 subjects were recruited for this study from the university. The baseline measurements of ankle dorsiflexion range of motion were assessed by appropriate tools. Based on the measurement obtained, the samples were allocated into two different groups, which received moist pack and ultrasound before passive stretching. After each day of therapy and stretching intervention, the new range of motion was measured again as it is done in the baseline. Results: The results obtained in the pretest values of ultrasound group and hot pack mean are 11.33 and 9.33 respectively. It shows that the ultrasound group has a higher mean value compared to the hot pack group. However after the intervention, the posttest results showed significance where their p values was 0.00 where ' p' value were < 0.05 for both the groups that there was no significance difference between both the groups after 4 weeks of intervention, thus the null hypothesis is accepted. Conclusion: Among the modalities tested, the use of ultrasound for 7 minutes prior passive stretching may be the most effective way for increasing ankle dorsiflexion ROM compared to hot pack prior to stretching within a shorter period of time than 4 weeks.}, 
  author={Regima and Asia and Balakrishnan and Asia and Arumugam and Sabitha and Regima and Asia and Regima and Balakrishnan and et al.}, 
  year={2016}
  }