Raquel Vaquero-Cristóbal; José María Muyor; Fernando Alacid & Pedro A. López-Miñarro

Summary

The objective was to determine the influence of hamstring stretching program on hamstring extensibility in soccer players. Seventeen amateur soccer players (mean age: 25.12 ± 4.16 years) and 19 sedentary subjects (control group) (mean age: 24.26 ± 5.64 years) were recruited. The soccer players group performed a hamstring stretching program during the four weekly training sessions for a period of 16 weeks. The stretching program included four exercises and each session consisted of 2 sets of each exercise. The control group did not participate in any hamstring-stretching or physical exercise program. Hamstring muscle extensibility was determined by active straight leg raise angle before (pre-test), at 8 weeks (intermediate-test) and after the 16 weeks (post-test) hamstring-stretching program. Significant improvements (p < 0.001) were found in SLR angles for the experimental group in post-test for both limbs (68.90 ± 9.04 and 77.80 ± 8.25 in the right leg; 66.10 ± 8.15 and 77.10 ± 7.77 in the left leg, respectively). The SLR values decreased between measures in sedentary subjects. Active straight leg raise values of the soccer players were significantly higher in all measures. This study indicates that a stretching program performed at finish of training sessions increases the hamstring extensibility in soccer players, reducing the frequency of players with reduced hamstring extensibility.

KEY WORDS: Hamstring extensibility; Intervention program; Flexibility; Sport.

How to cite this article