Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey.
Sports Health. 2021 Mar;13(2):181-186. doi: 10.1177/1941738120938649. Epub 2020 Aug 28.
The hamstring muscles play a critical role in the prevention of lower limb injuries. However, it is still unclear which exercises are more effective in terms of muscle activation.
In healthy individuals, there are differences between muscular activations of the biceps femoris (BF), semitendinosus (ST), and semimembranosus (SM) muscles during eccentric hamstring exercises.
Cross-sectional.
Level 2.
A total of 31 healthy participants (18 male; mean age, 22.5 years; SD, 3.1) were included in this study. The maximum voluntary isometric contraction of the hamstring muscles was measured using an isokinetic dynamometer. The participants were asked to perform one of the following exercises randomly (3 repetitions each): stiff-leg deadlift (SLDL), unilateral stiff-leg deadlift (USLDL), Nordic hamstring exercise (NHE), and ball leg curl (BLC). Activation of the BF, ST, and SM muscles was measured using surface electromyography during the exercises. In the statistical analysis of this study, factorial analysis of variance was used to compare the effects of each exercise on the muscle groups and to analyze which exercise type was more effective for each muscle group.
The NHE led to higher muscle activation than the other exercises ( < 0.001). When exercise type and muscle interaction were examined, SM activation was lower than BF ( = 0.04) and ST ( = 0.001) during NHE ( < 0.05). The highest level of muscular activation was recorded during the NHE in both male and female participants.
The NHE may be the most effective exercise for the hamstring muscles as it leads to greater muscle activation. SLDL, USLDL, and BLC exercises may be preferred at the beginning of strength training programs since they lead to lower muscular activation compared with the NHE.
To select the optimum hamstring exercise, it is important to know the activation levels of the hamstring muscles during different eccentric exercises.
腘绳肌在预防下肢损伤中起着至关重要的作用。然而，在肌肉激活方面，哪种运动更为有效仍不清楚。
在健康个体中，离心腘绳肌运动时，股二头肌（BF）、半腱肌（ST）和半膜肌（SM）的肌肉激活存在差异。
横断面研究。
2 级。
本研究共纳入 31 名健康参与者（18 名男性；平均年龄 22.5 岁；标准差 3.1）。使用等速测力计测量腘绳肌的最大自主等长收缩。要求参与者随机进行以下练习之一（每项练习重复 3 次）：硬拉（SLDL）、单侧硬拉（USLDL）、北欧式腘绳肌练习（NHE）和球腿弯举（BLC）。在运动过程中，使用表面肌电图测量 BF、ST 和 SM 肌肉的激活情况。在本研究的统计分析中，采用析因方差分析比较了每种运动对肌肉群的影响，并分析了哪种运动类型对每个肌肉群更为有效。
NHE 导致的肌肉激活高于其他运动（<0.001）。当检查运动类型和肌肉相互作用时，与 BF（=0.04）和 ST（=0.001）相比，SM 在 NHE 时的激活较低（<0.05）。男性和女性参与者在进行 NHE 时均记录到最高水平的肌肉激活。
NHE 可能是腘绳肌最有效的运动，因为它会导致更高的肌肉激活。与 NHE 相比，SLDL、USLDL 和 BLC 运动可能在力量训练计划的开始阶段更为适用，因为它们导致的肌肉激活较低。
为了选择最佳的腘绳肌运动，了解不同离心运动时腘绳肌的激活水平非常重要。
