Nordic Hamstring and Repeated-sprint Ability in Football (Soccer) Players

The Efficacy of a 10-week Intervention, Using the Nordic Hamstring Exercise, on Repeated-sprint Ability in Football (Soccer) Players - a Randomized Controlled Trial

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT02674919

Enrollment

Registered

2016-02-05

Start date

2016-02-29

Completion date

2016-06-30

Last updated

2018-06-14

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Repeated-sprint Ability

Keywords

Repeated-sprint ability, Nordic Hamstring exercise, Eccentric hamstring muscle strength

Brief summary

The purpose of the study is to investigate the efficacy of a 10-week intervention, using the Nordic Hamstring exercise, on repeated-sprint ability in male sub-elite football players. The primary outcome measure is total sprint time during 4x6 sprint of 10 meters measured using dual-beam photoelectric cells. Additionally, eccentric knee flexor strength is measured using the Nordbord hamstring strength measure. The hypothesis is that strength training of the knee flexor muscles elicited by the Nordic Hamstring exercise will result in enhanced repetitive sprint-ability expressed as a decrease in total sprint time. Furthermore, baseline data is used to assess to correlation between eccentric hamstring strength and active hamstring flexibility AND sprint performance.

Interventions

OTHERNordic Hamstring

OTHERControl

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

OTHER

Masking

SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

MALE

Age

17 Years to 35 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Sub-elite Danish football player * Age 17-35. * Able to participate fully in competitive football activities at the time of testing

Exclusion criteria

* Hamstring pain resulting in loss of training and matches 2 months prior to study initiation. * Specific systematic strength training of the hamstring muscles (\>1/week) in the preceding 2 months before study initiation. * Specific systematic sprint training (\>1/week) in the preceding 2 months before study initiation. * Longstanding injury (\>6 weeks) in the lower extremities in the preceding 6 months to study initiation.

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Total sprint time measured during 4x6 sprints of 10 meters. The sprints are performed every 15s and the sets are separated by 3 minutes of rest.	Measured prior to and after the intervention period (at week 0 & 10)

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
Single sprint times (best sprint time, sprint time during last sprint).	Measured prior to and after the intervention period (at week 0 & 10)
Maximal eccentric knee flexor strength measured using Nordbord device	Measured prior to and after the intervention period (at week 0 & 10)
Eccentric knee flexor strength endurance measured during 12 repetitions of the Nordic Hamstring exercise using Nordbord device.	Measured prior to and after the intervention period (at week 0 & 10)
Active range of motion of hamstring muscles measured using inclinometer.	Measured prior to and after the intervention period (at week 0 & 10)
Correlation between eccentric hamstring strength and active hamstring flexibility AND sprint performance.	Measured prior to the intervention (at week 0)

Countries

Denmark

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 25, 2026