Is neuromuscular inhibition detectable in elite footballers during the Nordic hamstring exercise?

Blandford, Lincoln, Theis, Nicola ORCID: 0000-0002-0775-1355, Charvet, Ingrid and Mahaffey, Ryan (2018) Is neuromuscular inhibition detectable in elite footballers during the Nordic hamstring exercise? Clinical Biomechanics, 58. pp. 39-43. doi:10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2018.07.009

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Abstract

The presence of neuromuscular inhibition following injury may explain the high incidence of biceps femoris injury recurrence in elite (soccer) footballers. This phenomenon may be detectable in elite players during the Nordic hamstring exercise. Thus, the first purpose of this study was to assess biceps femoris muscle activation during this exercise in players with hamstring injury history. Additionally, following injury, observed increases in synergistic muscle activation may represent a protective mechanism to the presence of neuromuscular inhibition. Thus, the second purpose was to identify if the relative contributions of biceps femoris, and its synergists reflected a post-injury pattern of activation suggestive of these potentially compensatory neural mechanisms. Methods Ten elite players with a history of hamstring injury and ten elite players without a history of hamstring injury, completed six repetitions of the Nordic hamstring exercise. During each trial, biceps femoris, semitendinosus and gluteus maximus muscle activations were collected at 90–30° and 30–0° of knee flexion. Findings Biceps femoris activation was significantly higher at 90–30° of knee flexion compared to 30–0° (P < 0.001) but did not differ between the groups. In players with a history of injury, muscle activation ratios for the biceps femoris/semitendinosus (P = 0.001) and biceps femoris/gluteus maximus (P = 0.023) were significantly greater at 30–0° of knee flexion than in the control group. Interpretation Neuromuscular inhibition of the biceps femoris was not detected during the exercise within elite footballers, yet the relative contributions of biceps femoris and its synergists appear to change following injury.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Hamstring injury recurrence; Activation ratios
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC1200 Sports Medicine
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Education and Science
Research Priority Areas:	Health, Life Sciences, Sport and Wellbeing
Depositing User:	Susan Turner
Date Deposited:	16 Jul 2018 08:56
Last Modified:	31 Aug 2023 09:08
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/5777

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