Hip adduction and abduction strength recovery in senior male rugby union players during a full training and match week.

OBJECTIVES

To report hip adduction and abduction strength recovery of rugby players during a full training and match-week, and to examine the relationship between session load, daily hip/groin pain, and provoked groin pain, on changes in hip strength.

DESIGN

Repeated measures design.

SETTING

Training facility.

PARTICIPANTS

32 male rugby players.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Hip adduction, abduction, and adduction:abduction strength ratio measured using a ForceFrame at select timepoints throughout an 8-day period.

RESULTS

Time demonstrated a non-significant main effect on strength, with no significant changes evident post-training. Post-hoc analysis revealed a significant decrease (p = 0.003, 0.49Nm/kg, 23%) in adduction strength (1.67 ± 0.45Nm/kg) immediately post-match compared to baseline (2.17 ± 0.51Nm/kg), with a 13% decrease evident 48-h post-match (1.89 ± 0.25Nm/kg), before returning to baseline 96-h post-match (2.04 ± 0.57Nm/kg). Similarly, post-match hip adduction:abduction strength ratio (0.84 ± 0.19) was significantly lower (p = 0.006, mean difference 0.16, 20%) immediately post-match compared to both baseline (1.03 ± 0.23) and 48-h post-match (0.97 ± 0.25). Session load demonstrated a moderate-to-good relationship (Pearson's r = 0.60) with changes in adduction strength, and a fair relationship with changes in abduction strength (r = 0.31), and hip adduction:abduction strength ratio (r = 0.43).

CONCLUSIONS

Rugby players may benefit from more than 48-h recovery after match play, in an effort to restore baseline hip adduction strength, whereas training sessions during match-week do not seem to affect any strength measures.