Background and objectives: Osteitis pubis refers to a painful, inflammatory condition involving the pubic bones, pubic symphysis, and adjacent structures. So, the aims of the study were to evaluate the strength of trunk muscles of soccer players suffering from osteitis pubis, and to compare the agonist/antagonist ratio of trunk muscles in osteitis pubis athletes with that of healthy athletes.
Materials and methods: Twenty-five soccer male athletes with osteitis pubis, and 25 healthy soccer athletes. Peak torque/body weight (PT/BW) was recorded from trunk muscles during isokinetic concentric and eccentric contraction modes at a speed of 120°/s for healthy and osteitis pubis soccer players.
Results: There was a significant decrease in concentric contraction of back muscles in osteitis pubis group (p=0.01). A significant decrease in eccentric contraction of abdominal muscles was also recorded in osteitis pubis group (p=0.008). Concentric abdominal/back muscles ratio was significantly higher in osteitis pubis group (p=0.016), with no significant difference in eccentric abdominal/back muscles ratio between both groups (p>0.05).
Conclusion: Osteitis pubis group displayed concentric weakness of back muscle and eccentric weakness of abdominal muscles that lead to disturbance of the normal concentric abdominal/back ratio.
Keywords: Osteitis pubis; isokinetic; ratio; trunk muscles.