Bilateral strength comparisons among injured and noninjured competitive flatwater kayakers

Context: Anecdotal evidence suggests a relationship between strength imbala nces and injury incidence. Objective: To examine the relationship between bilateral strength imbalance and incidence of injury. Participants and Design: Thirty national- or international-standard flatwat er kayakers were classified as noninjured, trunk injured, or upper-limb inj ured based on the number of days lost from training over the last 6 months. Bilateral strength imbalance was measured using a kayak ergometer, produci ng data for peak force and force impulse for each side of each stroke. Bila teral strength imbalance was then compared between the noninjured, trunk-in jured, and upper-limb-injured groups by means of 2 one-way ANOVAs. No parti cipants reported training days lost through lower-limb injury. Results: A significantly elevated bilateral peak-force strength imbalance w as observed between the upper-limb-injured and the noninjured groups. Conclusion: These data support the existence of a relationship between stre ngth imbalance and incidence of injury.