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The Effects of the Nordic Hamstring Exercise (eccentric strengthening) on Injury Prevention in Athletes - A systematic review
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- Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to identify the effects of the Nordic Hamstring Exercise (NHE), which is an eccentric hamstring strength exercise, performed at least for four weeks, on injury prevention in healthy adult athletes. Results of the selected studies were compared to existing literature. Method: A research strategy was constructed by gathering relevant studies from five electronic databases. A combination of the following search terms was used: "Nordic Hamstring", "Nordic hamstring exercise”, "eccentric strengthening", "eccentric work", "eccentric training", “athlete”, “sports men", "sports women", “injury”, "muscle strain", “trauma”, “prevention”, “neuromuscular”. Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) were selected according to the established PICO(s) criteria. Results: The selected articles were five randomized controlled trials, which allowed comparisons between isolated Nordic Hamstring exercise and other programs. The analysed data were: intervention characteristics; age and participants’ characteristics; inclusion and exclusion criteria; outcome measures and the main results of the study. The intervention groups showed a better preventive effect on hamstring strain injuries (HSIs) than the control groups even if one of the studies shows no significant differences between groups. NHE also seems to be involved in decreasing injury severity. Conclusions: In healthy adult athletes, a NHE prevention program shows positive effects on decreasing HSIs. However, the heterogeneity between studies and the lack of existing RCTs does not allow us to make a stand on how to set up a prevention program including NHE.