Isokinetic Strength and Functional Ratio for Quadriceps and Hamstrings among Semi-Professional Athletes in UAE playing Football, Cricket, and Tennis- Biomechanical Implications

Background Monitoring the strength of the muscle is essential for both assessing and anticipating the state of the muscle and its functional capacity. Isokinetic strength evaluation is amongst the most widely employed techniques for assessing lower limb muscle strength in athletes. It has been determined that the hamstring-to-quadricep ratio is a crucial factor in determining the incidence of lower extremity injuries. Sports like football, cricket, and tennis have similar components in practice but may have a different involvement of the hamstring-to-quadriceps ratio. Hence, this study aims to compare the isokinetic strength of the hamstrings against the quadriceps for football, cricket, and tennis among semi-professional athletes. Methodology: An observational, cross-sectional study was conducted with the inclusion of participants between the ages of 18 years to 40 years, both males and females having an active athlete profile playing football, cricket, and tennis as a semi-professional (competing in inter-collegiate, national level tournaments). The minimum duration in each sport was taken as one hour per day and three to five times per week. A total of 66 participants were enrolled with 22 participants in each group for 6 months. ISOMOVE isokinetic device was used to assess the strength of dynamically contracting Quadriceps and Hamstring muscles. Results Age-wise distribution of players showed that age ranged between 18–40 years with 77.3% players in football, 68.2% in cricket, and 59.1% in tennis were males. The comparison for the mean peaks of isokinetic strength of all three sports suggested that higher isokinetic strength was found in football players with a mean value of 0.51 ± 0.07, followed by cricket and tennis with mean values of 0.48 ± 0.08 and 0.42 ± 0.05 respectively. Conclusion The isokinetic strength was found to be more in football players followed by cricket and tennis players for semi-professional athletes. The findings of the study conclude that isokinetic strength varies for the given three similar sports as the demand on the target muscle would vary specifically. A good isokinetic strength for football skills may not impart similar physiological properties for cricket and tennis. Thus, semi-professional players who play multiple games should consider the strength and training specific to sports to avoid the risk of injuries.