ABSTRACT

　Hamstring muscle strain injuries would occur during the late swing phase of highspeed running. Biceps femoris long head （ BFlh） is the most common injured muscle among hamstring muscles. Here, we aimed to examine the influence of pelvic and lower limb joint kinematics on the BFlh muscle-tendon kinematics using an angledriven simulation method. Forty male collegiate athletes performed maximal effort 50-60m sprinting while capturing their motion with a three-dimensional motion capture system. Using this captured sprint data, we simulated the sprint motion that increased and decreased their BFlh muscle-tendon unit （MTU） length during the late swing phase of sprinting. This simulation revealed that the pelvic anterior-posterior and knee extension-flexion motions affect the BFlh MTU length, whereas hip extension-flexion motion has smaller contributions to the MTU length compared to the pelvic and knee joint motions. Thus, our result suggests that modifying the sagittal plane motions of the pelvis and knee joint would be beneficial for preventing hamstring muscle strain injuries.

DECENTE SPORTS SCIENCE Vol.46/The DESCENTE AND ISHIMOTO MEMORIAL FOUNDATION FOR THE PROMOTION SPORTS SCIENCE