Football clubs now employ a host of experts to fine-tune the minds and bodies of their players like Formula 1 cars.
And Southampton have added a hamstring expert to their performance roster to get to the bottom of their injury woes.
Last term, 11.5% of the club’s ailments were hamstring-related – a standard figure for Premier League outfits – but the severity of each injury caused concern, with left-back Matt Targett missing most of the campaign.
“Usually a hamstring injury will see a player miss three to four weeks,” explains Dr Katie Small, the woman the Saints are hoping will solve their problems. “However some players were absent for more than 100 or 200 days.”
Small completed her PhD in 2009, when she compared the impact of hamstring-boosting exercises on two groups of semi-professional players over an eight-week period.
One group completed exercises before training and the other group following their session. Then the players had to complete a sprint workout, which replicated the distance and intensity during a typical 90-minute game.
When the subjects’ hamstring strength levels were tested at half-time and full-time of the session, she found some intriguing results.
“If you perform an exercise such as Nordic hamstring curls prior to training or a game, it could increase the risk of injury,” adds Small. “But, doing them after could improve the muscle’s resistance to fatigue.”
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