Purpose We aimed to perform an exploratory study on the lower limb neuromechanical profile of kickboxing athletes. Methods Knee extensors (KE) and flexors (KF) peak torques (PT) were measured and KF/KE was obtained. The KE peak rate of torque development (pRTD), single-hop distance (SHD), and vastus lateralis muscle thickness were measured. The inter-limb asymmetry index (ILA) was calculated for each variable. Results We did not observe differences between limbs (dominant vs. non-dominant) for any variable. However, more than 40% of the athletes demonstrated a KF/KE deficit and the pRTD ILA (mean of ~ 20%) was significantly greater than other ILAs (from 5 to 9%, p = 0.01). The SHD was correlated only to the pRTD (rho = 0.59, p = 0.01). Conclusions Kickboxing athletes demonstrated a similar neuromechanical profile to well-trained athletes from other sports modalities. The explosive strength seems to be more discernible regarding inter-limb asymmetries. The moderate positive relationship between SHD and pRTD suggests that the single hop test can be used as a surrogate measure in the lack of direct explosive strength measures.
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