Date of Award

9-7-2018

Publication Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

M.H.K.

Department

Kinesiology

Keywords

Field Testing, Hamstring, Injury, Knee, Prevention, Ratio

Supervisor

Milne, Kevin

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Abstract

Knee injuries are one of the most common ball sport related injuries and cause hundreds of millions of dollars for rehabilitation costs annually. Females are 4-9 times more likely to experience a knee injury compared to males and typically suffer more severe knee injuries. Strength imbalance of the hamstrings and quadriceps muscles during complex sport movements and/or as a result of fatigue may contribute to knee injury occurrence. This study attempted to predict the ratio of isokinetic muscular strength of the hamstring and quadriceps muscles from a battery of physical field tests both before and after fatigue. Females (n = 29) were recruited from the University of Windsor and completed a field testing protocol consisting of a 20m forward sprint, 20m backward sprint, 5-10-5 agility test, single leg hop for distance, side hop, vertical jump, and eccentric Nordic hamstring curl, as well as an isokinetic dynamometer protocol to obtain muscle peak torques (PT) and hamstring to quadricep PT ratios (HQR), pre and post a 45 minute simulated sport exercise protocol. PT (F(1,228) = 27.678, p =0.00) and HQR (F(1.871,321.889)= 15.689, p =0.00) decreased following the exercise protocol. Further, the battery of field tests were able to predict HQRcon/con at 60o in the non-dominant limb (F(3,24) = 4,42, R2 = 0.622 p = 0.015), with a combination of the speed tests (ST), jump tests (JT) and NHC in the final model. HQR may predict knee injury risk, and consequently, the field tests employed in the current study could be used by strength and conditioning specialists to assess risk without the need for more expensive equipment. However, HQR should be reassessed as a method for knee injury prediction with respect to more functional models and at specific joint angles. Further, future studies should employ additional field tests that may strengthen the association with risk.

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