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Capacity is a helpful term in clinical practice to indicate to clients that they (and more importantly their musculoskeletal tissues) are either able or unable to complete a task or participate in physical activity. In the context of injury-having exceeded the capacity of the tissue-the term has immediacy for muscle and ligament: a musculotendinous or ligament strain is an acute injury due to a loading event beyond the tissue's capacity. The tissue response in tendon is usually more gradual-acute traumatic injury of normal tendon is rare, whereas the pathological tendon can fail catastrophically (rupture).
Definition
A tissue is at full capacity when the individual is able to perform functional movements at the volume and frequency required without exacerbating symptoms or causing tissue injury. The capacity of a tissue clearly varies between individuals and the load they place on their tissues. Elite athletes require greater tissue capacity than recreational players, tissue of young people has greater capacity than that of older people (all other things being equal) and normal tissue has greater capacity than pathological tissue. As functional movements require full capacity in a number of musculoskeletal tissues, injury occurs when the capacity of the weakest link in the lower limb is exceeded.
Clinical implications
In the clinical setting, the specificity of loading tissue to increase capacity is both simple (load the injured tissue and allow a period for adaptation) and complex (load multiple tissues within the lower limb). After injury, rehabilitation is directed mostly at the injured tissue but specific rehabilitation may result in synergists or unrelated regions being under-loaded, and this will reduce the capacity of those tissues.
For example, rehabilitation of a hamstring strain will undoubtedly increase capacity in the hamstring to sporting capacity. However, capacity in the adductor tendons and groin tissue will be reduced if a progressive change...