Background

Lower limb muscle strain injury is highly prevalent in running-based sports and is considered a risk factor for recurrent injury. It is possible that differences in muscle activity and activation in previously strain-injured limbs may contribute to the elevated risk of reinjury.

Objectives

To systematically review available literature investigating whether muscle activity and/or activation is different in previously strain-injured muscles compared to contralateral uninjured muscles or uninjured controls.

Methods

A systematic review of literature in SPORTDiscus, MEDLINE Complete, CINAHL and Web of Science was conducted. Full-text English articles which compared indicators of neuromuscular function between injured and uninjured contralateral limbs or control groups in those with a history of muscle strain injury were included.

Results

Twelve studies were included in the review after eligibility criteria were applied. A best evidence synthesis revealed moderate to limited evidence suggesting differences in surface electromyography (sEMG) amplitude, integrated sEMG amplitude, inter-muscle sEMG ratios and voluntary activation in injured limbs, most often during eccentric contractions. Studies utilising sprinting assessments demonstrated conflicting evidence when comparing late swing phase biceps femoris sEMG amplitude between limbs with a history of hamstring strain injury and uninjured contralateral limbs.

Conclusions

Differences in muscle activity and activation were observed between injured and uninjured limbs across a variety of strength assessments. The evidence supporting these differences was most often moderate or limited and was generally observed during eccentric contractions. Mostly conflicting or limited evidence was found to suggest that participants with previous hamstring strain injury demonstrate no differences in muscle activity during running tasks when compared with their uninjured counterparts or contralateral limbs.

Trial Registry

PROSPERO (ID, CRD42019135681).

中文翻译：

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先前拉伤下肢的肌肉活动和激活：系统评价

背景

下肢肌肉拉伤在跑步运动中非常普遍，被认为是复发性损伤的危险因素。先前受过劳损的肢体的肌肉活动和激活的差异可能会导致再次受伤的风险升高。

目标

系统地回顾现有文献，调查与对侧未受伤的肌肉或未受伤的对照相比，先前受过劳损的肌肉中的肌肉活动和/或激活是否不同。

方法

对 SPORTDiscus、MEDLINE Complete、CINAHL 和 Web of Science 中的文献进行了系统回顾。全文英文文章比较受伤和未受伤的对侧肢体或有肌肉拉伤史的对照组的神经肌肉功能指标。

结果

在应用资格标准后，12 项研究被纳入审查。最佳证据综合显示中度至有限的证据表明，表面肌电图 (sEMG) 振幅、综合 sEMG 振幅、肌肉间 sEMG 比率和受伤肢体的自主激活存在差异，最常见于离心收缩期间。在比较具有腘绳肌拉伤史和未受伤的对侧肢体之间的晚期摆动期股二头肌 sEMG 振幅时，利用短跑评估的研究证明了相互矛盾的证据。

结论

在各种力量评估中观察到受伤和未受伤肢体之间肌肉活动和激活的差异。支持这些差异的证据通常是中等或有限的，并且通常在离心收缩期间观察到。发现大多数相互矛盾或有限的证据表明，与未受伤的同行或对侧肢体相比，先前有腘绳肌拉伤的参与者在跑步任务中表现出的肌肉活动没有差异。

审判登记处

PROSPERO (ID, CRD42019135681)。