Effect of muscle energy technique on flexibility of hamstring muscle in Indian national football players

Abstract

Introduction: Football (soccer) is certainly one of the most popular sports worldwide. Football is a dynamic sport that requires the athlete to perform many different movements and skills such as rapid acceleration and deceleration, quick changes of directions, jumping, kicking, and sliding. Compared with other sports, football is vigorous sporting activity with relatively high incidence of injury. Tightness in hamstring muscle leads to hamstring muscle injury. Prevalence of hamstring injury is common in football players due to its tightness. Purpose of Study: The purpose of this study was to find out the effect of muscle energy technique (MET) on the flexibility of hamstring muscle in national level football players. The players were given 6 days MET on hamstring muscle to improve its flexibility. Hamstring length was checked using the sit and reach test presession as well as postsession, and both values were compared. Result: The increase in hamstring length following the 6 days MET on hamstring proved to be statistically significant (P < 0.01) when compared with the presession (24.31) and postsession (26.77) values. Conclusion: It is concluded that MET increases the flexibility of hamstring muscle in Indian National Football Players and hence it can prevent the injuries and improves their performance.