Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports
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Scand J Med Sci Sports · Feb 2008
Comparative StudyPrevention of hamstring strains in elite soccer: an intervention study.
The purpose was to test the effect of eccentric strength training and flexibility training on the incidence of hamstring strains in soccer. Hamstring strains and player exposure were registered prospectively during four consecutive soccer seasons (1999-2002) for 17-30 elite soccer teams from Iceland and Norway. The first two seasons were used as baseline, while intervention programs consisting of warm-up stretching, flexibility and/or eccentric strength training were introduced during the 2001 and 2002 seasons. ⋯ The incidence of hamstring strains was lower in teams who used the eccentric training program compared with teams that did not use the program (RR=0.43, P=0.01), as well as compared with baseline data for the same intervention teams (RR=0.42, P=0.009). Eccentric strength training with Nordic hamstring lowers combined with warm-up stretching appears to reduce the risk of hamstring strains, while no effect was detected from flexibility training alone. These results should be verified in randomized clinical trials.
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Scand J Med Sci Sports · Feb 2008
Comparative StudyInterleukin-6 and its mRNA responses in exercise and recovery: relationship to muscle glycogen.
Increases in circulating interleukin-6 (IL-6) during exhaustive exercise have been suggested to be related to declining muscle glycogen. We addressed two hypotheses: (a) exhaustive exercise on two occasions will result in similar decreases in glycogen and increases in circulating IL-6 and its muscle mRNA; (b) increasing the rate of glycogen restoration via high-carbohydrate feeding in recovery will be associated with more rapid declines in muscle mRNA and circulating IL-6. Ten male subjects (22.6+/-0.8 year) cycled to exhaustion (65% VO(2 max)) on two occasions (117.8+/-2.9 min). ⋯ The decline in glycogen was not correlated with the increase in IL-6 or IL-6 mRNA. During recovery, circulating IL-6 and its muscle mRNA decreased similarly in both trials; however, glycogen increased 150% (P<0.05) and 40% in the carbohydrate and water trials, respectively. Therefore, the declining IL-6 mRNA and IL-6 plasma concentrations during recovery were not related to carbohydrate availability or changes in glycogen.