TY - JOUR

T1 - Monitoring the effect of football match congestion on hamstring strength and lower limb flexibility

T2 - Potential for secondary injury prevention?

AU - Wollin, Martin

AU - Thorborg, Kristian

AU - Pizzari, Tania

N1 - Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Adolescent

KW - Athletic Injuries/prevention & control

KW - Hamstring Muscles/physiology

KW - Humans

KW - Lower Extremity/physiology

KW - Male

KW - Muscle Strength

KW - Pain Measurement

KW - Range of Motion, Articular

KW - Recovery of Function

KW - Soccer

U2 - 10.1016/j.ptsp.2017.09.001

DO - 10.1016/j.ptsp.2017.09.001

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 29156302

VL - 29

SP - 14

EP - 18

JO - Physical Therapy in Sport

JF - Physical Therapy in Sport

SN - 1873-1600

ER -