Evaluation Of Abductor To Adductor Strength Ratios In Recreationally Active College Students

The strength ratio between hip abductors and adductors is thought to play a crucial role in athletic performance and mitigation of injury to the knee and groin. While there are some data regarding these muscle groups in athletes and the elderly, there has been minimal focus on other populations. PURPOSE: To assess strength ratios between hip abductors and adductors of healthy, recreationally active college students. METHODS: Following written informed consent, 53 (31 female, 22 male) volunteers (22.0 ± 2.1 yrs) performed a one rep max (1RM) test on a selectorized weight machine. Following a standardized warm up, two familiarization trials with 30-50%, and 50-80% of 1RM were performed. Max strength was evaluated in ≤5 attempts, with 1 min rest between each trial. Abductors were tested first and, following a 5 min rest, the procedure was repeated for the adductors. Outcomes of interest were muscle group strength, abductor:adductor strength ratio by sex, and influence of weekly training frequency. RESULTS: MANOVAs indicated significant main effect for hip abductor and adductor strength by sex (F1, 52 = 16.425; P < .001) and training frequency (F2, 51 = 2.081; P = .045). Post hoc analyses revealed that men were significantly stronger than women across hip abduction (34.26 ± 6.10 kg vs 23.9 ± 6.8 kg, p < .001) and adduction (66.82 ± 12.33 kg vs 38.2 ± 10.7 kg, p < .001); however, women had a significantly greater hip abductor to adductor ratio than men (0.65 ± 0.15 kg vs 0.52 ± .015 kg, p = .033), respectively. Additionally, increased training frequency significantly improved abductor (p = .036) and adductor (p = .012) strength. Despite significant overall strength findings by training frequency, there was no correlation for women (R2 = .003, F1, 30 = .072; p = .790) or men (R2 = .003, F1, 20 = .056; p = .815) when comparing abductor:adductor ratios by the same metric. CONCLUSION: Findings may reflect influence of the increased Q-angle observed in women, exercise selection and preferences, or imbalances in agonist versus antagonist training volumes within workout plans. Additional research is warranted to confirm causal factors for differing strength ratios in men and women, and further illuminate what an ideal ratio should be for this population.