Return to Sports After Hamstring Injuries: Importance of the Criteria and Their Applicability in Clinical Practice
Aydın Balcı1
, Bülent Ülkar2
1Sports Medicine Division, Yenimahalle Trainining and Research Hospital, Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Ankara, Turkey
2Sports Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey
Keywords: hamstring injuries, RTP criteria, re-injury
Abstract
Purpose: Hamstring injuries are the most common sport-related muscle injuries. Several Return to Play (RTP) criteria have been described to prevent re-injury after hamstring injuries. Despite the criteria, re-injury rates have not been satisfactorily improved. The purpose of this study is to investigate the utilization of RTP criteria in clinical practice.
Materials and Methods: Forty-nine sports medicine specialists and twenty-six physiotherapists were included in the study. The study was conducted using a 5-point Likert-Scale questionnaire. This study is a cross-sectional study and Level of Evidence is IV. Participants were questioned about their sociodemographic characteristics, the importance of RTP criteria, the practical application of these criteria, and the factors that influence the RTP decision. The difference between importance referred to RTP criteria and practical application was analyzed with the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test.
Results: Statistical analysis revealed a significant difference between referred importance and practical application of eight out of ten RTP criteria (p<0.05).
Conclusion: RTP criteria do not adequately reflect the practical application. The underlying causes of this contradictory situation should be analyzed, and a new perspective should be developed to prevent hamstring injuries and decrease the re-injury rates.
Cite this article as: Balci A, Ulkar B. Return to sports after hamstring injuries: Importance of the criteria and their applicability in clinical practice. Turk J Sports Med. 2020;55(4):284-9.
There is no conflict of interest of funding in this article.
