RESEARCH SUMMARY: Eccentric knee flexor strength and risk of hamstring injuries in Rugby Union: A prospective study (Bourne et al., 2015)

Title: Eccentric knee flexor strength and risk of hamstring injuries in Rugby Union: A prospective study

Author/s: Bourne (@MBourne5), Opar (@davidopar), Williams (@drmorgs),  Shield (@das_shield)

Year: 2015

Journal: The American Journal of Sports Medicine (ISSN: 0363 546)

Question: How does eccentric knee flexor strength relate to risk of hamstring injuries in Rugby Union?

Key Takeaway: Eccentric knee flexor strength does not increase the likelihood of future hamstring strain injury in rugby union players, but imbalance between left and right leg eccentric knee flexor strength does.

Link: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/87555/

Summary: This study investigated the relationship between eccentric knee-flexor strength and the risk of hamstring injury in rugby union. 178 elite and sub-elite Rugby players had their eccentric strength assessed on the NordBord in preseason and had their injuries tracked over the course of the following competitive season.

Key Findings:

• Players with a history of hamstring strain injury had 4.1 fold greater risk of subsequent hamstring injury than players without such history.
• Between-limb imbalance in eccentric knee-flexor strength of ≥ 15% and ≥ 20% increased the risk of hamstring strain injury 2.4 fold and 3.4 fold respectively.
• Unlike previous findings in Australian Rules players, lower eccentric knee flexor strength and other prior injuries were not associated with increased risk of future hamstring strain.