Impact of hamstring flexibility on functional performance of collegiate football players

Abstract

Introduction: Football is the most popular high-intensity intermittent team sport that requires speed, strength, agility, and endurance. During official matches, elite football players perform 150–250 short-lasting, energy-demanding intense actions interspersed with periods of low-intensity jogging or running. Collegiate football programs place great importance on controlling player's body weight, body composition, muscle strength, and length. Of all the muscle strains associated with competitive sport, hamstring strains are the most common and problematic. Objectives: To determine the correlation between hamstring flexibility and functional performance of collegiate football players.Methods: 100 subjects who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. Once the baseline data was collected the subject's hamstring flexibility was assessed by the Active knee extension test (AKE) and limb length was measured. Subjects were then asked to perform Illinois Agility Test, 30m Sprint Test and Wall Mount test, and Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT). Three trials of each test were performed, and the mean was taken for statistical evaluation. Result: There exists weak correlation between sprint, agility, SEBT, and hamstrings length; however, results indicate a moderate correlation between posterolateral reach distance and hamstring flexibility and a statistically significant relationship between hamstring length and vertical height of jump with p< 0.05.Conclusion: Hamstring flexibility has a weak correlation with functional performance of collegiate football players. However, it has positive correlation with vertical jump height and posterolateral reach distance of SEBT.