HAMSTRING MUSCLE ACTIVATION DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GENDERS WHILE PERFORMING SINGLE LEG LANDINGS

Abstract

Women are 2-10 times more likely to incur an ACL injury compared to males. Hamstring neuromuscular differences between genders may contribute to genu valgum, a posture that is unfavorable to ACL integrity. The intention of this study was to examine hamstring activation patterns between genders when executing single leg landings. Ten male and ten female recreationally active subjects performed three repetitions of a single leg drop landing onto each leg. Surface EMG data were obtained from the medial and lateral hamstrings. A 2X2X2 repeated measures ANOVA indicated there were no main effects for gender, side, or muscle on the dependent variables (p > 0.05). Results of this study suggest that males and females exhibit similar medial/lateral hamstring neuromuscular activation strategies when landing from a jump.