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Chang, Cheon, and Jun: Relationship between Hamstring Muscle Thickness and Knee Flexion Torque and Rate of Torque Development
Clinical Article
Sports Science

The Korean Journal of Sports Medicine 2019; 37(4): 178-183.

Published online: 6 December 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5763/kjsm.2019.37.4.178

Relationship between Hamstring Muscle Thickness and Knee Flexion Torque and Rate of Torque Development

Eunwook Chang1, Soul Cheon1, Hyung-Pil Jun2

1Department of Kinesiology, Inha University, Busan, Korea.

2Department of Physical Education, Dong-A University, Busan, Korea.

Correspondence: Hyung-Pil Jun. Department of Physical Education, Dong-A University, 37 Nakdong-daero 550beon-gil, Saha-gu, Busan 49315, Korea. Tel: +82-51-200-7817, Fax: +82-51-200-7805, hjun@dau.ac.kr

Received 18 October 2019       Revised 25 November 2019       Accepted 25 November 2019

Copyright © 2019 The Korean Society of Sports Medicine

The Korean Society of Sports Medicine

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between hamstring muscle thickness and knee flexion peak torque, and rate of torque development (RTD) calculated during 0–50 ms (RTD50) and 0–200 ms (RTD200).

Methods

Thirty-six active individuals' dominant side hamstring thickness were measured using portable ultrasound device. Participants performed maximal isometric voluntary contraction (MVIC) of knee flexion. Peak torque was identified as the maximum torque during MVIC testing. RTD was calculated initial 50 ms and 200 ms after the onset of joint torque. Pearson's correlation (r) coefficients were utilized to assess relationships between muscle thickness and knee flexion peak torque, RTD50 and RTD200. The significant level of hypothesis verification is set-up as α=0.05.

Results

Greater peak torque and RTD200 was associated with greater muscle thickness of semitendinosus and semimembranosus (p<0.05). Greater RTD50 was associated with greater muscle thickness of semitendinosus only. Biceps femoris thickness was not associated with knee flexion peak torque, RTD50, and RTD200.

Conclusion

These results suggest that the training specific hamstring muscle (medial hamstrings) for improving muscle thickness would be effective for increasing knee flexion peak torque and RTD.

Keywords: Hamstring, Muscle thickness, Peak torque, Performance, Rate of torque development

Figures and Tables

Fig. 1

Experimental design.

kjsm-37-178-g001
Fig. 2

Hamstring muscle thickness measurement location. SM: semimembranosus, ST: semitendinosus, BF: biceps femoris, M: medial, L: lateral.

kjsm-37-178-g002
Fig. 3

Measurement of hamstring muscle thickness using Image J. ST: semitendinosus, SM: semimembranosus, BF: biceps femoris.

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Table 1

Average thickness of each hamstring

kjsm-37-178-i001

Values are weighted population, estimated mean±standard deviation.

Table 2

Knee maximum flexural muscle strength and instantaneous muscle force ratio

kjsm-37-178-i002

Values are weighted population, estimated mean±standard deviation.

RTD: rate of torque development, RTD50: RTD calculated during 0–50 ms, RTD200: RTD calculated during 0–200 ms.

Table 3

Pearson (r) correlation coefficient between each hamstring thickness and maximum andinstantaneous strength rate

kjsm-37-178-i003

RTD: rate of torque development, RTD50: RTD calculated during 0–50 ms, RTD200: RTD calculated during 0–200 ms.

*p<0.05, **p<0.001.

Notes

This study was supported by Inha University Research Grant (57836-01).

Conflict of Interest No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

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ORCID iDs

Eunwook Chang
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5876-9275

Soul Cheon
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4605-6686

Hyung-Pil Jun
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7772-8276

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