Before summarizing the article , I would like to talk about the backgrounds of this article.
As Soccer( football) is one of the most popular sport in the world , it has a very high status of sportsmanship and value , and it is one of the most competitive sport that people had ever played. Hence , there are numerous injury risks associated to football , especially in the elite or professional level where the games and players are the most competitive and valuable. Injuries could easily ruin the player's career and affect their club's performance.
Manchester United Player Wayne Rooney suffering Hamstring Injury during a Premiership game
Among all types of football injury , one of the most common and prolonged injury are the Hamstring strains. It is common in sports that has lots of sprinting , sudden acceleration , kicking and sudden deceleration , this match with the sport characteristics of football. The usual consequences for elite players who suffer from Hamstring strains usually cause a significant time loss from games and training. Therefore , it is severe type of injury that professional players would never like to have.
In-step shooting postures could easily sprain the Hamstring
Methods of study
According to the study article , it was conducted with 17 to 30 Norwegian and Iceland professional football teams in four consecutive professional football seasons. The first two years are used as control or baseline data. Then two different intervention programmes which consists of warming-up stretching flexibility and or with eccentric strength training.
The injury and exposure of Hamstring strains were identified during the competitive seasons by the team's physical therapists and with MRI follow-up verification , the occurrence of the injury during matches and training regarding to causes such as sprinting , accelerating or turning will be recorded, however , injuries that were caused by collisions were not recorded.
The study also includes a statistical method to show the occurrence of football related hamstring strain by calculating the number of hamstring strains per 1000 hours of player exposure ( match + training).
Results of Study
According to the article's findings, it was found that there was no significant difference in occurrence of hamstring strain of groups that did not follow the intervention program 1(warmup + flexibility training) when compared with the control / base data groups. Therefore , it shows that the effect of typical warm-up with flexibility training have no effect on reducing the occurrence of Hamstring strain.
On the other hand , the group with intervention program 2 (warmup+flexibility training + eccentric strength training) have a much lower occurrence of the Hamstring strain injury. Therefore , it was found that there was a significant improvement if eccentric strength training was added to player's pre-training or pre-match workouts.
Discussion
These findings suggested that the traditional warmup exercise along with flexibility training alone could not reduce the risk of getting Hamstring strain of football players , instead , eccentric strength training takes a significant part to improve the players resistance for getting Hamstring strain injuries. The study so-far provided some useful guidelines for protecting ourselves from getting Hamstring strain injuries. This study also reinforce our understanding on the risks of doing certain type of sports. This is essential for us to know what are the risks of the sport , and getting informed decision when choosing the appropriate and suitable sport for ourselves to carry out a healthy lifestyle with exercise.
However , there were some limitations in the study. The first limitation was about the accuracy of the statistical data collected. As the study was preformed at elite football teams , the athletes are not separated in random groups , instead , their game and training are monitored by individual coaches. The difference in coaching and play style will definitely affect the prone of the players getting the Hamstring strain injuries.
The second limitation is that about the implementation of intervention schemes, despite the efforts made from the scientists , it was reported that some players or coaches failed to stick on to the programmes , resulting a relatively low compliance of 48%.
Another limitation is about the identification of the injured players. Although the injuries are marked by team physical therapists , but in some cases , the specialists are not present to screen all training sessions and games , moreover , some cases were found without accurate screening with MRI , but diagnosed by the specialist alone.
Reference:
Arnason, A., Andersen, T. E., Holme, I., Engebretsen, L. and Bahr, R. (2008), Prevention of hamstring strains in elite soccer: an intervention study. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 18: 40–48. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0838.2006.00634.x
