Higher frequency of hamstring injuries in elite track and field athletes who had a previous injury to the ankle ‐ a 17 years observational cohort study

Abstract

BackgroundInversion injury to the ankle and hamstring injuries are common problems in most sports. It is not known whether these injuries constitute a predisposing factor or a precursor of injury or re-injury of these anatomical locations. Therefore, we wished to test the hypothesis that a previous inversion ankle injury exerted a significant effect on the chance of an athlete suffering from a subsequent ipsilateral hamstring injury and vice versa.MethodsIn an observational cohort study over 17 years (1998–2015), 367 elite track and field athletes, were grouped according to their first traumatic isolated ankle or hamstring injury. Fifty athletes experienced both injuries. The Mann-Whitney U and Chi-square tests (p < 0.05) were performed to test possible associations of ankle and hamstring injury with age, gender, athletics discipline, grade, and type of antecedent injury.ResultsAthletes with a preceding ankle injury had a statistically significantly higher chance of experiencing a subsequent hamstring injury compared with athletes who had experienced a hamstring injury as their first traumatic event (x2 = 4.245, p = 0.039). The proportion of both ankle and hamstring injury events was not statistically different between female (18%) and male (11%) athletes. Age and grade of injury did not influence the proportion of ankle and/or hamstring injury events.ConclusionThere is a statistically significantly higher frequency of hamstring injuries in elite track and field athletes having experienced a previous ankle ligament injury.

Recalibrating the risk of hamstring strain injury (HSI): A 2020 systematic review and meta-analysis of risk factors for index and recurrent hamstring strain injury in sport

“…The best evidence synthesis included 179 factors and their association with index (129 factors) and/or recurrent ( 23-25 27 30 knee injury (LOE: moderate), 46 95 calf strain injury (RR=1.5, p<0.001) 23-25 30 52 and ankle ligament injury (LOE: limited) 51 increased the risk of HSI; if the previous HSI occurred within the same season the risk was even greater (ie, recent history: RR=4.8, p<0.001) 30 52 59 85 (figure 3, online supplementary appendix 2: table 2). A history of quadriceps strain injury 23-25 49 and previous chronic groin pathology/'osteitis pubis' HSI risk in cases of increased thoracic side-bending during front swing (LOE: limited) 92 and increased anterior pelvic tilt during backswing (LOE: limited) 92 (online supplementary appendix 2: table 2).…”

Functional deficits in chronic mechanical ankle instability

“…Future studies need to clarify whether different degrees of severity of MAI also show different degrees of the functional deficits reported in this study. Potentially, this will also allow to estimate the risk for associated injuries following lateral ankle instability and therefore increase the therapeutic value [1,28,51,52]. To achieve this, however, a reproducible manner of quantitively assessing MAI is indispensable.…”

How do your genetics compare to the world’s elite marathoners?

“…This tendon attaches to the large muscles at the back of the thigh to bone. The main mechanisms of hamstring injury is an extreme contraction of the muscle at high velocity or slow stretching at the outermost range of motion (Malliaropoulos et al, 2018). Several of the genes associated with Achilles Tendon injuries are also associated with hamstring injuries.…”