Normative H-Test Values in a Cohort of 113 Healthy Soccer and Track-and-Field Athletes at High Risk for Hamstring Injury.
Sebastien Latella, Julen Ferreira, Lois Broquet and 1 others
In 113 healthy soccer and track-and-field athletes, H-test values were consistent across both sports and both legs.
The one small difference found fell below the threshold for a real change.
Key findings
1No significant differences in hip flexion range of motion or peak angular velocity were found between soccer and track-and-field athletes, between dominant and non-dominant legs, or in the interaction of the two.
2Track-and-field athletes reached peak angular velocity at a slightly higher hip angle than soccer players, but the difference was trivial in size and fell below the minimal detectable change, making a true between-sport difference unlikely.
3Limb symmetry index values for all measured criteria sat at or near 100% with standard deviations under 10%, indicating no meaningful side-to-side asymmetry in this healthy cohort.
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What it does not show
90% of participants were male; with only 19 females, no sex-difference analysis was possible and the authors caution that female values should be interpreted with care. All participants were university-level athletes, not professional or elite competitors, so the values may not generalise to higher-performance populations. The H-test is performed supine with the knee braced and the pelvis constrained, which is quite different from the upright, multi-joint, pelvis-involving movement of actual sprinting. The authors acknowledge this limits ecological validity. Video was captured at 60 frames per second, which the authors note may reduce precision of the velocity and acceleration measures compared with 120 or 240 Hz systems. The study is cross-sectional and reports no injury outcomes. It establishes reference values but does not show that the H-test predicts hamstring injury or that deficits on the test are associated with higher re-injury risk. Single-site sample from one university department.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest and no funding source.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the small APV° difference between track-and-field and soccer athletes as a meaningful clinical distinction. The effect size was trivial and the difference fell below the minimal detectable change, so it is unlikely to reflect a real between-sport difference. Also, these are values for healthy, uninjured athletes. The authors explicitly state that the findings should not be generalised to injured populations, and no prospective data yet link H-test deficits to hamstring injury risk.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →