Hamstring Muscle Injuries and Hamstring Specific Training in Elite Athletics (Track and Field) Athletes

Pascal Edouard (), Noel Pollock, Kenny Guex, Shane Kelly, Caroline Prince, Laurent Navarro, Pedro Branco, Frédéric Depiesse, Vincent Gremeaux and Karsten Hollander
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Pascal Edouard: Inter-University Laboratory of Human Movement Biology (LIBM EA 7424), University of Lyon, University Jean Monnet, 42023 Saint Etienne, France
Noel Pollock: Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health, University College London, London W1T 7HA, UK
Kenny Guex: School of Health Sciences (HESAV), HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, 1011 Lausanne, Switzerland
Shane Kelly: National Performance Institute, British Athletics, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK
Caroline Prince: Laboratoire Interuniversitaire de Biologie de la Motricité, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, EA 7424, 73000 Chambéry, France
Laurent Navarro: Mines Saint-Etienne, U1059 Sainbiose, INSERM, Centre CIS, University Lyon, University Jean Monnet, 42023 Saint-Etienne, France
Pedro Branco: European Athletics Medical & Anti-Doping Commission, European Athletics Association (EAA), 1007 Lausanne, Switzerland
Frédéric Depiesse: CH Chalons en Champagne et Institut Mutualiste de Montsouris, 75014 Paris, France
Vincent Gremeaux: Swiss Olympic Medical Center, Centre de Médecine du Sport, Division de Médecine Physique et Réadaptation, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, 1011 Lausanne, Switzerland
Karsten Hollander: Institute of Interdisciplinary Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, MSH Medical School Hamburg, 20457 Hamburg, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 17, 1-14

Abstract: Objective: We aimed to describe hamstring muscle injury (HMI) history and hamstring specific training (HST) in elite athletes. A secondary aim was to analyse the potential factors associated with in-championships HMI. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study to collect data before and during the 2018 European Athletics Championships. Injury and illness complaints during the month before the championship, HMI history during the entire career and the 2017–18 season, HST (strengthening, stretching, core stability, sprinting), and in-championship HMI were recorded. We calculated proportions of athletes with HMI history, we compared HST according to sex and disciplines with Chi2 tests or ANOVA, and analysed factors associated with in-championship HMI using simple model logistic regression. Results: Among the 357 included athletes, 48% reported at least one HMI during their career and 24% during the 2017–18 season. Of this latter group, 30.6% reported reduced or no participation in athletics’ training or competition at the start of the championship due to the hamstring injury. For HST, higher volumes of hamstring stretching and sprinting were reported for disciplines requiring higher running velocities (i.e., sprints, hurdles, jumps, combined events and middle distances). Five in-championship HMIs were recorded. The simple model analysis showed a lower risk of sustaining an in-championships HMI for athletes who performed more core (lumbo-pelvic) stability training (OR = 0.49 (95% CI: 0.25 to 0.89), p = 0.021). Conclusions: Our present study reports that HMI is a characteristic of the athletics athletes’ career, especially in disciplines involving sprinting. In these disciplines, athletes were performing higher volumes of hamstring stretching and sprinting than in other disciplines. Further studies should be conducted to better understand if and how HST are protective approaches for HMI in order to improve HMI risk reduction strategies.

Keywords: track and field; injury surveillance; epidemiology; risk factors; hamstring; prevention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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