Incidence of decreased hip range of motion in youth soccer players and response to a stretching program: a randomized clinical trial.

CONTEXT After years of focusing on the management of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, the most common soccer-related injuries, the orthopedic community has concluded that soccer players have a wide range of variation in joint biomechanics and has thus started to focus research efforts on the morphological factors that might contribute to ACL trauma. One such factor is decreased hip-rotation range of motion (ROM), which may be due to compensatory musculoskeletal changes occurring in response to longstanding soccer practice since childhood. OBJECTIVE This study sought to assess decreased hip rotation and the influence of stretching exercises on the behavior of the hip joint in players of the youth soccer categories of a Brazilian soccer team. DESIGN Randomized clinical trial. SETTING University hospital. PATIENTS 262 male soccer players. INTERVENTIONS Subjects were randomly allocated into 2 groups-control or a stretching program. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Subjects were reassessed after 12 wk. RESULTS The findings suggest that hip-rotation ROM decreases over the years in soccer players. In the study sample, adherence to a stretching program improved only external hip-rotation ROM in the nondominant limb. CONCLUSION Playing soccer can restrict rotation ROM of the hip, and adherence to stretching exercises may decrease the harmful effects on the hip joints.