Introduction: Hamstring muscle tears are among the most common sports injuries. They account for approximately 25% of all sports injuries, with high recurrence rates ranging from 15% to 60%, posing a significant challenge to the recovery of athletes. Muscle injuries can alter the movement control system and generate compensatory strategies that affect muscle synchronisation. A thorough study of how hamstring tears generate adaptive mechanisms that alter motor strategies is crucial to improve assessment and rehabilitation processes. In this context, electrophysiological biomarkers provide an excellent study tool due to their high temporal resolution. The aim of this work was to review and summarise the evidence on the analysis of electrophysiological biomarkers and provide insights into the compensatory and adaptive mechanisms generated by hamstring muscle tears.
Methods: A literature review was conducted using the PubMed-MEDLINE and Google Scholar databases, focusing on studies relevant to applied research in athlete recovery. The search employed keywords such as "hamstring tear", "hamstring injuries", "electrophysiological biomarkers", "EMG analysis", "functional connectivity", "intermuscular coherence", "muscle synergies", "muscle networks", and "motor control". Articles were selected based on their relevance to the field of sports science and rehabilitation, particularly in the context of athlete recovery strategies.
Results and Discussion: Bivariate and multivariate analyses using EMG data offer a comprehensive approach to understanding muscle synchronisation strategies, thereby addressing the shortcomings of traditional univariate analysis focused on parameters such as amplitude, latency, and spectral power density.
Conclusions: Using an approach based on bivariate and multivariate analysis would allow a better study of the compensatory mechanisms induced by muscle injury on motor behaviour.