Abstract
In American football, the development of strength, power, speed, and conditioning is crucial throughout a season and college career to enhance athletes’ performance and prevent injury. Eccentric knee flexor strength is important for optimal athletic performance and injury risk reduction; therefore, assessment of eccentric hamstring strength (EHS) is critical. PURPOSE: To evaluate the EHS of a Division I football team and its change or continuity across multiple years. METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of HAMIR, 95 Division I football players (Age: 20.94 ± 2.11yrs; Ht: 1.88 ± 0.06m; Wt: 102.15 ± 17.94kg) had their EHS measured using the NordBord. Each athlete was properly positioned on the NordBord and instructed to slowly lower themselves while resisting with their hamstrings. Each athlete performed three sub-maximal warm-up trials and three maximum effort trials. The average of three successful trials (AVG) and the peak force (PF) of the trials were recorded. A subgroup of 21 athletes (Age: 22.52 ± 1.78yrs; Ht: 1.87 ± 0.06m; Wt: 107.26 ± 17.09kg) was measured across three years. RESULTS: For the total 95 athletes who participated in the study, their mean AVG force was 432.72 ± 81.43N and PF was 451.62 ±87.22N. A repeated measures ANOVA showed no significant difference in the AVG force (427.17 ±76.29N, p=.605) nor in the PF force (452.51 ±79.38N, p=.664) for the 21 players who were measured across three years. CONCLUSION: Football players maintained EHS over three years of play, training, maturation, and development. This is interesting considering periods of general weight training and specific EHS training focused on increasing the strength and power of these athletes. Understanding the effect of EHS on factors such as speed, power, and agility may further elucidate whether this continuity of strength is positive or if striving for an increase in EHS is important to enhance these factors. Additionally, comparing the results of this study to elite athletes with similar physical demands in their sport may be beneficial.
This project was made possible through the efforts of individuals affiliated with the HAMIR study with funding from the National Football
League (NFL). The NFL had no role in the study design, collection, analysis, nor interpretation of the data presented, and was not involved in the writing of the manuscript, nor the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Recommended Citation
Vandenakker, Josh; Wilwand, Malorie; Mortensen, B. Brett; and Johnson, A. Wayne
(2024)
"Three Years of Football Play Maintains NordBord Eccentric Hamstring Strength in Division I Athletes,"
International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings: Vol. 14:
Iss.
4, Article 49.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol14/iss4/49
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