Just back from APTA CSM...and always a great experience. For my last session I chose a sports session on hamstring injury. I am a runner and it seems I am asked about this from friends and family and I really wanted to increase my knowledge. Well, my mind was BLOWN AWAY.
The key points for me were:
Increased range of motion with eccentric MS exercise http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/48/7/648.2
Greater strength gains with eccentric than concentric exercise http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-016-0628-4
Eccentric exercise prevents hamstring strain https://search.pedro.org.au/search-results/record-detail/28768
A bunch of different protocols but of interest to me was benefits of Nordic exercise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbmuE4clhg4. You can see the exercise at 4:41.
What about children with CP or other disabilities? A quick google search yielded ONE article. Children with hemiplegic CP benefit from eccentric exercise https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4968522/.
I just got a 2 case studies accepted to the Pediatric PT Journal (YIPPEE). Will be sharing that article far and wide when we have a publication date! Anyway, we had one interesting finding we could not explain: one of the students with long standing hamstring tightness improved for both gastrocnemius and hamstring range of motion, despite not engaging in any stretching exercise. Lots of squatting, lifting and trunk strength activities. Maybe this is why? Thinking about not only the Nordic HS exercise but effects of pushing things, like weighted boxes to get this same kind effect?
Seems to me we need to be looking towards eccentric exercise for our interventions and watching the literature for this topic. I need to find a PT student with some serious library access to see if they can dig any more studies.
Well that is my knowledge translation piece for the day!