Influence of Hamstring Stretching on Soccer Injury Prevention: A Systematic Review
Abstract
Hamstring injuries are common in soccer. It is common to warm up with stretching exercises before playing sports for preventive purposes. However, there are divergences regarding their benefits. This study aimed to review the main findings on the effects of hamstring stretching in preventing soccer injuries. This is a systematic review that gathered scientific articles from the electronic databases PubMed/Medline, ISI Web of Science and Scopus. The articles selected in English had the following descriptors: “stretching”, “hamstring”, “prevention” and “soccer”. Prospective studies (clinical trials and cohort studies) that addressed the effects of stretching in preventing injuries in soccer players of both sexes, without date restrictions, were considered. Titles and abstracts were analyzed, duplicate records were excluded and full texts were read, with exclusion of articles that did not meet the inclusion criteria. In total, 123 studies were found and after the entire selection process, two studies were selected. One of the selected studies showed that the program that emphasized stretching exercises had a positive effect on the time to return to sports practice in athletes with hamstring injuries, when compared to another program with less emphasis on stretching, but there was no control group. In the other study analyzed, no significant differences were found in the incidence of hamstring strains with flexibility training. It is concluded that the evidence is limited and inconclusive for this topic, deserving future investigations.
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