Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine the most accurate
isokinetic testing method, either concentric/concentric or
concentric/eccentric, for the detection of previous hamstring injury.
Twenty-one male semi-professional soccer players were recruited from premier
divisions of the Sunday football league and the Isthmian league division one in
England and examined on a Cybex Norm isokinetic dynamometer. Eleven players had
suffered previous hamstring injury whilst ten players that had never suffered
hamstring injury formed the control group. For each group the following ratios
were determined: unilaterally: concentric hamstring/concentric quadriceps,
eccentric hamstring/concentric quadriceps; bilaterally: concentric hamstring,
eccentric hamstring and concentric quadriceps at both
60°/s and 120°/s. The Area
Under the Curve (AUC) of Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) provided a
summary measure of the validity of each test. Significant differences between
injury and non-injury groups were found for the bilateral concentric hamstring
ratio measured with a concentric/concentric testing method at
60°/s (AUC = 0.773,
P< 0.05). All other ratios rendered non-significant AUC
values. In addition, non-significant AUC were recorded for all ratios measured
at 120°/s. Therefore, these observations suggested
that the concentric/concentric testing method may be suitable for detecting
previous hamstring injury. In addition, these findings suggested that a lower
speed (60°/s) should be utilized for the muscular
strength analysis of soccer players suffering from hamstring injury.
