Virtual Reality in Sedentary Adults With Hamstring Shortening

NCT07238491 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: 11328
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 84
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Tightness of hamstring muscle is known as a reduction in range of motion accompanied by a sensation of restriction in the posterior aspect of thigh. Numerous reasons can cause it, such as genetic susceptibility, compensatory tightness due to persistent abnormalities, and muscular strain. Tight hamstrings cause a small amount of knee flexion during exercise and require comparatively high quadriceps efforts to offset the hamstrings' passive resistance. This could result in knee joint pain that affects gait and raise the reaction forces at the patellofemoral joint.

Conditions

Hamstring Muscle Tightness

Keywords

virtual reality; Hamstring tightness; flexibility; Muscle strength; gait parameters; young adults

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Muscle strength

  Microfit hand-held dynamometer (HHD) will be used for assessment of hamstring muscle strength. Each participant will lie prone on a standard treatment table. In this position, the participant will be instructed to bend their knee to 90° of knee flexion, where the Microfet 2 MMT-Wireless HHD will be placed on the lower leg, and a downward force toward the table will be held for 5s while the participant resists the downward force. The participant will be instructed to use their maximum effort. It will be performed three times, and an average will be recorded.

  5 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Active Knee Extension (AKE) Test

  5 weeks

• Step length

  5 weeks

• Stride length

  5 weeks

• Cadence

  5 weeks

• Velocity

  5 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Group A (Virtual reality group)

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will receive virtual reality (VR) in addition to the traditional physical therapy program 2 times/week for 5 weeks.

Device: Virtual reality; Other: Traditional physical therapy programme

Group B (control group)

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants will receive a traditional physical therapy program only, 2 times per week for 5 weeks.

Other: Traditional physical therapy programme

Interventions

Virtual reality DEVICE

A five-minute warm-up, thirty minutes of intervention training, and a five-minute cool-down will all be included in each session. Five minutes of stretching and walking were part of the warm-up. Every participant will play five sports games (running, cool-running, catching gift, football, skate) during each session. These gamed can help teenagers to improve their physical strength, endurance, balance, and coordination. Every game lasted Five minutes.

Group A (Virtual reality group)

Traditional physical therapy programme OTHER

The exercise programme includes farmer walks, squats, calf raises, stretching exercises, and strengthening activities. The exercises will be performed in one or two sets of 15-20 repetitions, with a 60-second rest in between. The sets, repetitions, and loads will be increased as the participants advance, up to three sets of 60 repetitions for a perceived effort of 70%-80% of 1RM

Group A (Virtual reality group); Group B (control group)

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 30 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Sedentary adults with tightness of hamstring muscle with the degree of flexion for knee joint more than 20° throughout active knee extension (AKE) test.
• Their age between 18 and 30 years.
• BMI less than 30 kg/ m2 .
• Sedentary lifestyle that includes sitting on the chair for long period of time for minimum 6 hours per day, 5 days/week for 6 months minimally.
• Participants who did not engaged in a physiotherapy programs in the previous 6 months.
• Absence of fractures, injuries or medications (such as analgesics or muscle relaxants) that may affect the results of the study.

You may not qualify if:

• Any neurological diseases (such as; severe disc prolapse and radiating pain).
• Injury of hamstring in the previous 2 years.
• History of knee injury.
• Fracture in lower extremity or the spine.
• Surgery in the spine.
• Unequal leg length \> 2cm.
• Congenital deformity.
• Orthopedic disorders such as patellofemoral pain syndrome, musculoskeletal pain, psychiatric problem.
• Any systemic disease, hearing or visual deficits, cognitive, or cardiovascular complications, and pregnancy.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Cairo University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Faculty of physical therapy, Cairo University

Giza, Egypt

Location

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor of physical therapy for surgery, Faculty of physical therapy

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 14, 2025
• First Posted: November 20, 2025
• Study Start: November 20, 2025
• Primary Completion: March 28, 2026
• Study Completion: April 10, 2026
• Last Updated: April 15, 2026

Record last verified: 2025-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL

Locations

EG (1)