Monitoring the effect of football match congestion on hamstring strength and lower limb flexibility: Potential for secondary injury prevention?

Martin Wollin, Kristian Thorborg, Tania Pizzari

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objectives To investigate the effect of competitive football match congestion on hamstring strength and lower limb flexibility. Design Repeated measures. Setting Elite male youth football. Participants Fifteen male elite youth football players from the national football association centre of excellence were included (age = 15.81 ±0.65 years, height = 171.95 ±6.89 cm, weight = 65.93 ±7.53 kg). Main outcome measures Hamstring strength and pain, ankle dorsiflexion, hip extension, knee extension and flexion range of motion. Results Hamstring strength was highest at baseline and significantly reduced at 24 (p = 0.001, mean difference −0.19 Nm/Kg, CI95 −0.28, −0.1) and 48 h post-match 1 (p = 0.002, mean difference −0.16 Nm/Kg, CI95 −0.25, −0.07). Strength recovered by match day 2 before significantly reducing again 24 h post-match 2 (p = 0.012, mean difference −0.17 Nm/Kg, CI95 −0.29, −0.04). Pain was lowest at baseline and increased in the post-match periods (p < 0.05) with standardised effect sizes ranging from 0.07 to 0.42. Passive knee flexion range decreased post-match (p < 0.01) with mean differences of 1.5°–2.7°. The other flexibility measures remained unaffected by match play. Conclusion Isometric hamstring strength and pain can be considered for inclusion in-season to monitor player's post-match hamstring recovery characteristics during congested match fixtures.

Original languageEnglish
JournalPhysical Therapy in Sport
Volume29
Pages (from-to)14-18
ISSN1466-853X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2018

Keywords

  • Adolescent
  • Athletic Injuries/prevention & control
  • Hamstring Muscles/physiology
  • Humans
  • Lower Extremity/physiology
  • Male
  • Muscle Strength
  • Pain Measurement
  • Range of Motion, Articular
  • Recovery of Function
  • Soccer

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