Brittany cheerleads, sings, and enjoys gymnastics. She'd like to become a physical therapist someday because she loves "working with kids with special needs."
With teenage health in the news, Brittany became concerned that physical education classes were not providing enough stretching time. Because teenagers grow so fast, they are at risk for muscle injuries. Brittany hypothesized that teenagers who stretched their thighs regularly would be more flexible than teenagers who did not.
With the help of a physical therapist, Brittany designed a four-week stretching routine to increase flexibility of the adductor (inner thigh) and hamstring (outer thigh). She randomly chose two groups of 13 students to serve as the control and experimental groups. The experimental group stretched for an extra 5 to 10 minutes during each physical education class. At the end of four weeks, Brittany measured the flexibility of the students and compared her baseline readings. She found that students who stretched gained more flexibility than students who did not.
