Intersegmental Dynamics and Its Relevance for the Hamstring Muscle Injury during Sprint Running

摘要

Hamstring muscle strain injury is one of the most commonly seen injuries in sports, such as sprinting, soccer,football, and rugby. Many mechanisms and risk factors of hamstring injury were implicated. We apply the intersegmental dynamics combined with kinematics, ground reaction force (GRF) measurement to study the injury mechanisms of hamstring muscle. Methods: Three-dimensional videographic and ground reaction force (GRF) data were collected from 8 outstanding male sprint runners performing sprint running at their maximum effort. The intersegmental dynamics was quantified and the kinematics, the ground reaction force were analyzed during a running gait cycle of maximal speed phase in sprinting. Results: The results revealed that the dominating passive torque during the ground contact phase was the ground reaction torque (GRT), which acted to extend the knee and flex the hip joint during the initial stage of ground contact. The muscle produced a flexion torque at knee and an extension torque at hip in order to counter-balance the effect of GRT. This may lead to potential injury of hamstring muscles. The same phenomena was observed during the late stance phase with smaller GRF value. Conclusions: The hamstring muscle has the higher risk of injury during the initial stance phase of sprint running.