Electromyographic activity of vastus medialis oblique muscle in step-up and step-down exercises

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to determine the electromyographic activity of the vastus medialis oblique muscle (VMO) during step-up and exercises. The electrical activity of the VMO muscle was measured on 15 healthy subjects, aged 19 to 33 years, (X=24,4,SD=4,1) With no history of knee pathology, using a 8 channels Nicolet Electromyograph and Beckman surface mini electrodes. The signal was recorded in root mean square (RMS), expressed in microvolts. The statistical analyses (ANOVA and Turkey test) were calculated at 5 per cent of significance. The results showed that the electromyographic activity of the VMO muscle was significantly greater during the step-up (concentric work) than in the step-down exercise (eccentric work). These findings, within the experimental conditions used, suggest that the step-up and step-down exercises could recover the VMO muscle function, initially with eccentric work and afterwards, with concentric.