The Relationship between Hamstring Musculo-articular Stiffness and Lower-extremity Body Composition

The purpose of this study was to compare hamstring musculo-articular stiffness (MAS) and lower extremity (LE) body composition in the dominant (D) and non-dominant (ND) legs of men and women, and then to examine relationships between MAS and LE body composition while controlling for sex. No differences in MAS or LE body composition were found between D and ND legs in either sex. Males demonstrated greater MAS and LE % lean mass (%LM) than females, while females had greater LE % fat mass (%FM) than males. The combination of sex and %FM explained ~60% of the variance in MAS, while ~31% of the variance could be attributed to sex alone. Findings suggest that between-sex differences may potentially mask relationships between MAS and the factors influencing this measure, highlighting the need for future sex-stratified designs.