Effects of Acute Fatigue of the Hip Flexor Muscles on Hamstring Muscle Extensibility

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the influence of acute fatigue of the hip flexor muscles on scores attained in tests frequently used in literature to measure hamstring muscle extensibility, namely the passive straight leg raise (PSLR), active straight leg raise (ASLR), passive knee extension (PKE), active knee extension (AKE), sit-and-reach (SR) and toe-touch (TT) tests. A total of seventy-five healthy and recreationally active adults voluntarily participated in this study. To reach fatigue, the participants actively lifted their legs alternately as many times as possible. In the passive tests, the results were 7.10 ± 5.21° and 5.68 ± 4.54° higher (p < 0.01) for PSLR and PKE tests, respectively, after acute fatigue. However, in the ASLR test, the results were lower post-fatigue than pre-fatigue (mean difference = -5.30° ± 9.51°; p < 0.01). The AKE, SR and TT tests did not show significant differences between pre- and post-fatigue (p > 0.05). Moderate (r = 0.40) to high (r = 0.97) correlation coefficients were found, which were statistically significant among all the measured flexibility tests both pre- and post-fatigue. In conclusion, the active implication of the hip flexor muscles until reaching fatigue had acute influences on the results of the PSLR, PKE and ASLR tests, but not on the results of the AKE, SR and TT tests. It is recommended to use the AKE test to assess hamstring muscle extensibility in situations where athletes show fatigue in their hip flexor muscles.

Acute effects of different dynamic exercises on hamstring strain risk factors

“…When comparing two dynamic stretching protocols, DS impaired hamstring muscle performance (decreased eccentric strength). This result is different from what have been reported from previous research, including the one from Sekir et al [ 7 ], where the authors reported that DS improved the muscular strength. It should be noted that the difference in muscular performance following dynamic stretching can be due to the slightly different stretching interventions used.…”

“…It should be noted that the difference in muscular performance following dynamic stretching can be due to the slightly different stretching interventions used. For example, Sekir et al [ 7 ] had subjects perform the DS with both hamstring concentric contraction (knee flexion) and eccentric contraction (knee extension) phases combined. However, our DS intervention only focused on the portion of hamstring eccentric contraction.…”

“…Generally speaking, these types of stretching interventions are believed to improve the range of motion (ROM) and to decrease the muscle stiffness, thereby serving as an important part of the warm-up procedure. The passive straight leg raise test is a common test to examine the hamstring muscle flexibility [ 5 – 7 ]. Thus, these stretching techniques may prevent risk factors of hamstring strain [ 3 ].…”

Validity and Reliability of a New Device (WIMU®) for Measuring Hamstring Muscle Extensibility

“…The first is that the validity and reliability of the WIMU ® system has been evaluated only in the passive straight leg raise test. In the scientific literature, other angular tests such as the active straight leg raise [25,37], passive knee extension [25,26,33,34] and active knee extension tests [8,25,30] have been used to evaluate hamstring muscle extensibility. Future studies are necessary to evaluate the validity and reliability of WIMU ® system in these tests.…”

Effects of Various Numbers of Runs on the Success of Hamstring Injury Prevention Program in Sprinters

“…This characteristic is more remarkable at faster contraction speeds [ 47 ]. In flexibility, active straight leg raises decrease after hamstring fatigue exercise [ 48 ]. In agility, muscle fatigue may reduce neuromuscular coordination [ 49 ].…”