Hamstrings muscle architecture and morphology following 6 weeks of an eccentrically-biased romanian deadlift or Nordic hamstring exercise intervention

Review written by Adam Johnson info

Key Points

  1. The Romanian Deadlift is an exercise that can elicit the same desirable architectural changes in the hamstring musculature as the Nordic Hamstring Exercise.
All key points available for members only
Start free trial Icon
Or log in here

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

It is well published that hamstring injuries pose a large problem to both athletes and the medical teams working with them. One method of addressing this troublesome injury is the well-researched Nordic Hamstring Exercise which is known to positively influence two modifiable risk factors to hamstring injury.

The exercise both increases fascicle length and decreases pennation angle within the Biceps Femoris Long Head (BFlh), which has been shown to substantially decrease the risk of injury in the posterior thigh (1).

Despite this well-known link between the ability to address risk factors there is some apprehension in administration of this exercise, both from athletes who associate the exercise with high levels of delayed-onset muscle soreness (2), and from practitioners who do not believe that prescribing an exercise with neutral hip position for a bi-articular muscle is appropriate.

This paper’s main objective was to understand the differences in regional BFlh architecture and morphology with a 6-week intervention utilizing either the Romanian Deadlift (RDL) or the Nordic Hamstring Exercise (NHE).

Hamstring injuries pose a large problem to both athletes and the medical teams working with them.
bulb
If we are to continually challenge and stimulate our athletes, the variety within programming is key, and this paper assists with this decision-making around prescription and programming.

METHODS

  • A total of 32 participants of whom 17 were male, were recruited to the study. These participants were all between the ages of 18 and 25 and had no history of hamstring injury within the past six months. The participants
Start free trial Icon
to unlock full access to this review and 1133 more
Or log in here
Trustpilot