DO ALTERATION IN MUSCLE STRENGTH, FLEXIBILTY, RANGE OF MOTION, AND ALIGNMENT PREDICT LOWER EXTREMITY INJURY IN RUNNERS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES

Running injury is very common and multifactorial in nature. Clinicians often assess strength, flexibility, range of movement (ROM) and alignment to determine injury risk in runners and other athletes, but the exact relationship between these factors and injury is unknown. This review set out to see if alterations in strength, flexibility, ROM or alignment predict lower extremity injuries in runners by performing a systematic review of the literature.

Multiple factors including training load, fatigue and musculoskeletal impairments should be analysed over time to examine how they change and their relationship with each other and with injury

METHODS

Key research databases were searched (up to May 2018) for prospective cohort studies which specifically analysed the association between musculoskeletal ‘impairments’ (strength etc detailed above) and future running injury. Study data was extracted, and methodological and overall quality were assessed.

RESULTS

Searching the databases revealed 916 results. After screening and removal of duplicates 50 full text articles were retrieved, but just 7 met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. Overall these 7 studies were deemed to be “very

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