The stretch-shortening cycle is one of the most interesting topics in the field of sport sciences, because the performance of human movement is enhanced by the stretch-shortening cycle (eccentric contraction). The purpose of the present study was to examine whether the influence of preactivation on the torque enhancement by stretch-shortening cycle in knee extensors. Twelve men participated in ...

BACKGROUND Reduced flexibility has been documented in athletes with lower limb injury, however, stretching has limited evidence of effectiveness in preventing injury or reducing the risk of recurrence. In contrast, it has been proposed that eccentric training can improve strength and reduce the risk of injury, and facilitate increased muscle flexibility via sarcomerogenesis. OBJECTIVES This s...

It is commonly believed that estrogen and sex influences play significant effects in skeletal muscle damage following eccentric exercise. The mechanistic bases for this sex-specific phenomenon remain to be resolved. The muscle damage has been linked to loss of Ca(2+) homeostasis and resultant intramyocyte Ca(2+) ([Ca(2+)](i)) accumulation; therefore, we tested the hypothesis that the greater ec...

Fifteen male subjects performed a repetitive elbow flexion/extension task with a 7-kg mass until exhaustion. Average joint angle, angular velocity, and biceps brachii surface electromyographic (EMG) amplitude (aEMG) and mean power frequency (MPF) were calculated with each consecutive 250-ms segment of data during the entire trial. Data were separated into concentric or eccentric phases and into...

Evidence is accumulating regarding the benefits of exercise in people who are more susceptible to injury, such as the elderly, or those with a neuromuscular disease, for example Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). There appears to be a consensus that exercise can be safely performed in aging and diseased muscles, but the role of eccentric exercise is not as clear. Eccentric (lengthening) contrac...

BACKGROUND Home exercise programmes and exercise programmes carried out in a clinical setting are commonly advocated for the treatment of lateral elbow tendinopathy (LET), a very common lesion of the arm with a well-defined clinical presentation. The aim of this study is to describe the use and effects of strengthening and stretching exercise programmes in the treatment of LET. ECCENTRIC EXER...

PURPOSE This study examined the ability of 10 young (25.3 +/- 2.8 yr) healthy individuals to control knee-extension force during several discrete concentric and eccentric contractions. METHODS Subjects performed maximal and submaximal tasks on a KIN-COM isokinetic dynamometer. The submaximal tasks were to match a force-time parabola with a time to peak force of 200 ms at five target-forces (5...

BACKGROUND Eccentric overload training seems to be a promising conservative intervention in patients with chronic Achilles tendinopathy. The efficacy of eccentric overload training on the outcome measures of pain and physical functioning are not exactly clear. STUDY DESIGN Systematic review of the literature. METHODS Electronic databases were searched for randomised clinical trials concerni...

The effect of eccentric contraction on force generation and intracellular pH (pH(i)) regulation was investigated in rat soleus muscle. Eccentric muscle damage was induced by stretching muscle bundles by 30% of the optimal length for a series of 10 tetani. After eccentric contractions, there was reduction in force at all stimulation frequencies and a greater reduction in relative force at low-st...

This study aimed to examine the relationships between muscle power output using the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) and eccentric maximum strength under elbow flexion. Eighteen young adult males pulled up a constant light load (2 kg) by ballistic elbow flexion under the following two preliminary conditions: 1) the static relaxed muscle state (SR condition), and 2) using the SSC with countermovem...