Hamstring Shortness among Undergraduate Students, Using Knee Extension Angle Test

Abstract

Objective: To examine the causes and prevalence of hamstring tightness/shortness among undergraduate physical therapy students. It is a Cross-sectional study conducted at Institute of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, DUHS during the period of Jan 2019 to Jun, 2019. Materials and Methods: The sample size (n=248) was estimated by open EPI software. Both male and female are included. Hamstring muscle shortness was assessed by a gold standard assessment tool i.e. passive knee extension angle test. Descriptive statistical analysis was done by using SPSS version 24. Results: The hamstring muscle tightness was measured by using knee extension angle test. Results conclude that among (248) students (62.90%) had hamstring muscle tightness / shortness and (37.10%) did not show any muscle shortness. Out of (216) female participants (136) have hamstring shortness. On the other hand out of 32 male participants, twenty (20) had hamstring shortness out of total 248 students. It was also evident from the study that 27% of physiotherapy students having low back pain was because of clinical exposure and tight hamstrings muscles. Conclusion: Hamstring tightness/shortness is very much prevalent among the undergraduate physiotherapy students. The reason might be the prolong study durations and lack of physical activities. The results showed statistically significant difference between hamstring muscle extensibility in both male and female.