Abstract
Context: Lower extremity muscular strength may vary by different sport participation during growth process. Objective: To investigate effect of sport participation and growth by comparing strength of the hamstrings, quadriceps, and hamstrings to quadriceps strength ratio (H:Q ratio) between young female figure skaters and soccer players. Design: Cross-sectional. Settings: Laboratory affiliated with regional sports medicine center. Participants: pediatric and adolescent female athletes. Procedures: Isometric hamstrings and quadriceps strength were measured. Main Outcome Measures: Strength of the hamstrings, quadriceps, and hamstrings to quadriceps strength ratio (H:Q ratio). Statistical Analysis: Effect of sport participation and growth was analyzed through a two-way (two sports: figure skaters and soccer players; three age groups: <12 years, 13–16 years, and >17 years) analysis of covariance. Results: Hamstrings strength was significantly greater in figure skaters than soccer players. Also, hamstring strength of 13–16 years and >17 years was higher compared to <12 years. Additionally, significantly higher H:Q ratio in figure skaters compared to soccer players. Conclusions: There is effect of growth on hamstrings strength among 13–16 years and >17 years compared to <12 years. Figure skaters showed greater hamstrings strength and H:Q ratio than female soccer players.
Highlights
Figure skating is a popular winter sport, especially in countries located in northern hemisphere.In 2017, there were approximately 181,000 figure skaters who belong to the US figure skating association, and 74% of the participants are females [1]
The Shapiro–Wilk test indicated that age, height, body mass, and body mass index (BMI) were not distributed normally so that the Mann–Whitney U test was employed
Height and body mass were different between the two cohorts (Table 1); they were incorporated them in the two-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA)
Summary
Figure skating is a popular winter sport, especially in countries located in northern hemisphere.In 2017, there were approximately 181,000 figure skaters who belong to the US figure skating association, and 74% of the participants are females [1]. Past observational studies indicated that figure skaters were more susceptible to overuse injuries than acute injuries [2,3,4,5,6]. An epidemiological study conducted by Dubravcic-Simunjak et al showed that 42.8% of junior level singles female figure skaters sustained overuse injuries while only 25.0% suffered from acute injuries [7]. Of those overuse injuries, stress fractures were the most prevalent (19.8%) followed by patellar tendonitis (14.9%). Another study that focused on synchronized figure skating reported that 65.8% of female synchronized figure skaters experienced at least one overuse injury in their careers [8]
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