Post-game recovery of isometric hamstring strength in a high-risk hamstring strain injury group throughout an Australian Football League season

ABSTRACT

This study sought to investigate post-game hamstring strength recovery of 26 Australian Football League (AFL) players with a previous hamstring strain injury (HSI) across an AFL season. Maximal unilateral isometric knee flexion strength was assessed using an externally fixed dynamometer, and inter-session reliability was measured during the pre-season period. Linear mixed effects models investigated the influence of numerous variables on post-game hamstring strength decrement (relative change between initial weekly test and individual baseline) and individual within-week strength change following gameplay. The test demonstrated good inter-tester reliability (ICC = 0.81–0.88; CV = 6.73–7.33), and an acceptable level of error (MAE = 5.77–7.14%). Player as a random effect strongly influenced post-game strength decrement and within-week strength change (marginal R² = 0.185–0.407; conditional R² = 0.455–0.654). Within-week hamstring strength change was strongly determined by post-game strength decrement alone (estimate = 0.51, 95% CI = -0.66- -0.36 ; η² = 0.32; P=<0.001) and in interaction with number of days post-game (estimate = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.20–0.66; η² = 0.096; P=<0.001). This study shows the importance of early individual assessment of post-game hamstring strength in players with prior hamstring injury and could be valuable to inform post-game hamstring recovery in future applications.

KEYWORDS:

• Australian Football
• Hamstring strength
• Isometric knee flexion test

Acknowledgements

The Authors would like to thank the players of the football club for the time they committed to this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in The University of Western Australia Research Repository at http://doi.org/10.26182/c41x-7311.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.