Comparison of hamstring/quadriceps (H/Q) strenght ratio of professional football players and recreational active individuals

In this study, it is aimed to investigate the Hamstring / Quadriceps (H / Q) ratios of professional football players and recreational active individuals by means of an isokinetic dynamometer and, accordingly, the power tendencies of their peak power and dominant-non-dominant legs. In addition to these data, the peak power and power tendencies of dominant and non-dominant legs that may occur according to the positions in which football players take part in their games were also examined. For this purpose, the measurements of leg peak forces that belong to 20 professional soccer players taking part in the Turkey League 1, League 2 and League 3 and 16 recreational (healthy, engaged in recreational sports) active members studying at Gazi University were made at 60 / sec angular speed by an isokinetic dynamometer (ISOMED 2000). The measurements were made after a special warming consisting of 4 mid-level and 2 submaximal-level contractions following general warming in the way of 6 maximum repetitions. Kolmogorov - Smirnov / Shapiro- Wilk tests for normality testing and Levene test for homogeneity were applied. In the processing of the data, the skewness and flatness values of the data sets that do not have normal distributions were checked and it was assumed that they displayed normal distributions. Independent T test was applied to compare football players and recreational active individuals. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare players according to their positions. Statistical results were evaluated at 95% confidence interval and p < 0.005 significance level. The main finding of our study is that there is a difference in H/Q ratios in the right-left legs and dominant-non-dominant legs of football players compared to recreational active individuals. This difference takes its source from the circumstance that football players apply concentrically higher force. No significant difference was determined in terms of eccentricity. When the relative strengths were examined, significant differences were found in the hind legs of the football players compared to the recreational active individuals, but no difference was found in the front legs. Differences were found between the two groups throughout the anthropometric measurements. The football players were measured as taller and weightier. However when the players were divided according to their positions H/Q ratios, relative forces and anthropometric differences were not found.