Efficacy of Passive Manual Therapy, Active Therapy and Combined Therapy in Relation to the Prevention of Hamstring Injuries in Football Players. Randomised Clinical Trial.

Introduction: The prevalence of hamstring injuries in football is high, causing an increase in the number of casualties and a high socio-economic cost. Currently there are different treatment protocols for this muscle group, but there are often no comparisons of different types of passive, active and combined therapies, and their potential efficacy, in professional football players.

Objectives: To compare the efficacy of three different interventions; passive manual therapy, active therapy based on therapeutic exercise and combined therapy, in relation to hamstring injuries in professional football players.

Methodology: A simple Randomised Clinical Trial (RCT) was conducted (NCT04935398). After applying the selection criteria, a sample of 66 professional football players was obtained. They were divided into 3 intervention groups (A, B and C) with 22 participants in each group and were given passive manual therapy, active therapy (exercise) and combined therapy (sum of the above). The corresponding tests and questionnaires were evaluated to obtain data on hamstring flexibility and hip range of movement at three time periods: pre, post and post2.