Muscle Strength Variations of Knee Joint Muscles in Elite Female Handball Players after Pre-Season Conditioning.

Monitoring seasonal variations in strength performance and the relative risk of injury indicators related to strength of hamstring (H) and quadriceps (Q) in female elite athletes is beneficial for the training process. The aim of this study was to examine and compare the level of muscle strength, the conventional ratio (HCONC/QCONC) as well as two functional and strength ratios reflecting the movement of knee extension (HECC/QCONC) and flexion (HCONC/QECC), and the bilateral percentage strength deficit (BSD) in elite female handball players. The concentric and eccentric isokinetic peak torque was measured at an angular velocity of 60°/s on three occasions (in-season cessation, 4 weeks of rest followed by 4 weeks of individual conditioning and 6 weeks of group conditioning) in eleven female handball players (age: 23.1 ± 3.5 years, body height: 1.73 ± 0.6 m). According to ANOVA results, the BSD of H muscles in the concentric mode decreased between the in-season cessation and the end of the pre-season, and HCONC/QCONC increased at the beginning of the pre-season and at the end of the pre-season in comparison with inseason cessation measurement. The effect size analyses showed that the off-season rest followed by 10 weeks of the conditioning programme increased Q and H strength in comparison with the previous season with a large effect. Coaches should include progressive conditioning in the pre-season phase to decrease the bilateral strength deficit and to support further conditioning development.

Desempenho dos membros inferiores após reconstrução do ligamento cruzado anterior / Performance of the lower limbs after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

O desempenho dos membros inferiores em tarefas dinâmicas pode auxiliar no entendimento do controle motor em indivíduos submetidos à reconstrução do LCA. Os objetivos do presente estudo foram investigar o déficit bilateral e a simetria entre os membros inferiores de sujeitos submetidos à reconstrução do LCA e comparar com sujeitos não lesionados. Vinte adultos jovens foram divididos em dois grupos (LCA e controle). A tarefa consistiu na execução do exercício Leg Press (unilateral direita e esquerda e bilateral). O número de repetições máximas (RM) foi quantificado e então o déficit bilateral e o índice de assimetria foram calculados. Os resultados mostraram assimetria no número de RM realizada entre membros no grupo LCA (p=0,005) e apenas o grupo controle apresentou déficit bilateral (p=0,004). Conclui-se que indivíduos que realizaram a reconstrução do LCA apresentaram assimetrias entre membros, sem a presença de déficit bilateral.

The performance of the lower limbs in dynamic tasks may aid in understanding of motor control in patients after ACL reconstruction. The objective was to investigate the bilateral deficit and symmetry between lower limbs of people who have been underwent to the reconstruction of ACL and compare with uninjured people. Twenty young adults took part of this study divided in two groups (control and ACL). The tasks consisted on the execution of the Leg Press exercise (right and left unilateral and bilateral), and quantified the maximum number of repetitions (MR), then the bilateral deficit and an asymmetry index were calculated. The results showed asymmetry in the number of MR performed between members in the ACL group (p = 0.005), and only the control group showed bilateral deficit (p = 0.004). We conclude that those people who were underwent to reconstruction of ACL showed asymmetries between members without the presence of bilateral deficit.

Influência da fadiga unilateral de membro inferior sobre o salto vertical bilateral / Influence of unilateral fatigue of lower limbs on the bilateral vertical jump

Em saltos verticais é comum a verificação do déficit de força bilateral. Essa é caracterizada pela menor força gerada em contrações bilaterais, quando comparada à soma das contrações unilaterais dos mesmos músculos. Pouco se conhece sobre o efeito da fadiga unilateral sobre atividades bilaterais. O objetivo do estudo foi verificar o efeito da fadiga unilateral sobre o rendimento e o déficit bilateral durante saltos verticais bipedais. Dez adultos jovens sedentários fatigaram unilateralmente cada membro inferior e realizaram saltos verticais (bipedal e unipedal). Foram medidas a força de reação do solo vertical e a atividade mioelétrica de cada membro em cada condição (pré-fadiga, fadiga do membro dominante (FD) e não dominante (FND)). Houve diferença entre tarefas e condições apenas na pré-fadiga (p = 0,030). Verificaram-se diferenças para o salto bipedal entre a condição de pré-fadiga e FD (p = 0,005), e no salto unipedal, entre a pré-fadiga e FD (p < 0,001) e FND (p < 0,001). Apenas durante a condição de FD houve alteração no desempenho dos saltos bipedais, tendo maior influência no desempenho dos saltos. Observou-se tendência de diminuição do índice de assimetria para a ação muscular do membro contralateral fatigado, observado através de eletromiografia. Através dos dados sugere-se que exista um comando comum onde o sistema nervoso considere os músculos ativados simultaneamente como uma unidade, exceto em condições de fadiga unilateral.

It is common to observe bilateral strength deficit during the vertical jump. This is characterized by lower strength produced during bilateral contractions, when compared to the sum of the unilateral contractions of similar muscles. There is not much scientific knowledge about the effect of unilateral fatigue on bilateral activities. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of unilateral fatigue on bilateral deficit performance during bipedal vertical jump. Ten sedentary young adults unilaterally fatigued each lower limb and performed vertical jumps (bipedal and unipedal). We measured the vertical ground reaction force and myoelectrical activity to each lower limb and conditions (pre-fatigue, fatigue of the dominant limb (FD) and non dominant limb (FND)) were measured. Differences between tasks and conditions only on the pre-fatigue (p=0.030) were observed. Differences were observed for the bipedal vertical jump between pre-fatigue and FD (p=0.005), and unipedal vertical jump between pre-fatigue and FD (p<0.001) and FND (p<0.001). We only observed change on the performance of bipedal vertical jump during the FD condition. We observed a trend to the asymmetry index decrease for the muscular action of the fatigued contralateral lower limb by electromyography. The results suggest that there is a common command where the nervous system considers the muscles simultaneously activated as a unit, except in conditions of unilateral lower limb fatigue.