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Human hamstring muscles adapt to eccentric exercise by changing optimum length.

C L Brockett1, D L Morgan, U Proske

  • 1Department of Physiology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia. Camilla.Brockett@med.monash.edu.au

Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise
|April 27, 2001
PubMed
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Eccentric exercise causes muscle damage, but a second bout reduces harm. This study shows a sustained shift in muscle angle, protecting against injury and indicating a training effect in hamstring muscles.

Area of Science:

  • Biomechanics
  • Exercise Physiology
  • Muscle Physiology

Background:

  • Unaccustomed eccentric exercise causes muscle damage and delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS).
  • A subsequent bout of eccentric exercise, after a recovery period, results in significantly reduced muscle damage and soreness.
  • This phenomenon suggests an underlying protective mechanism or training effect within the muscle.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the mechanical properties of human hamstring muscles to provide evidence for the mechanism behind the reduced muscle damage observed after a second bout of eccentric exercise.
  • To identify if changes in muscle mechanical properties correlate with the observed training effect.

Main Methods:

  • 10 healthy subjects (8 male, 2 female) underwent eccentric exercise using a custom-designed hamstring lowering protocol.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Muscle mechanical properties were assessed using an isokinetic dynamometer to measure angle-torque curves before and after exercise.
  • Soreness ratings and leg girth measurements were recorded, with some subjects undergoing a second exercise bout 8 days after the first.

    • Main Results:

    • A significant shift in the optimum angle for torque generation (Lo) to longer muscle lengths was observed immediately post-exercise, indicating increased series compliance.
    • This shift in Lo persisted even after other indicators of muscle damage (e.g., soreness, girth) returned to baseline levels.
    • Subjects exhibited fewer signs of muscle damage during the second bout of eccentric exercise, supporting a protective training effect.

    Conclusions:

    • This study provides the first evidence of a sustained shift in the optimum angle of human muscle as a protective adaptation against eccentric exercise-induced injury.
    • The findings suggest that changes in muscle mechanical properties, specifically series compliance, play a crucial role in the protective training effect against muscle damage.
    • These results have implications for athletes, particularly those susceptible to hamstring strains, by highlighting a potential mechanism for injury prevention.