Two raters performed hand-held dynamometer testing of six muscle groups of 30 patients to determine the interrater reliability of the procedure. The six muscle groups tested were the shoulder external rotators, elbow flexors, wrist extensors, hip flexors, knee extensors, and ankle dorsiflexors. The patients were of eight different diagnostic groups, with most having hemiparesis secondary to cer...

OBJECTIVE To assess the effects of eccentric exercise on optimum lengths of the knee flexors and extensors during the preseason in professional soccer. DESIGN Twenty-eight athletes from a professional Spanish soccer team (Division II) were randomly assigned to an eccentric exercise intervention group (EG) or a control group (CG). Over the four-week period two athletes from the control group s...

The purpose of this research was to determine the functions of the gluteus maximus, biceps femoris, semitendinosus, rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, soleus, gastrocnemius, and tibialis anterior muscles about their associated joints during full (deep-knee) squats. Muscle function was determined from joint kinematics, inverse dynamics, electromyography, and muscle length changes. The subjects we...

The torque-velocity relationship is known to be affected by ageing, decreasing its protective role in the prevention of falls. Interindividual variability in this torque-velocity relationship is partly determined by genetic factors (h(2): 44-67%). As a first attempt, this genome-wide linkage study aimed to identify chromosomal regions linked to the torque-velocity relationship of the knee flexo...

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the knee and ankle angles at contact during running were related to the elastic properties of tendon structures in knee extensors and plantar flexors and performance in trained long distance runners. Thirty-two highly trained male long distance runners participated in this study. Elongation of tendon structures in knee extensors and plantar f...

SINGH, MOHAN, AND PETER V. KARPOVICH. Strength ufforearmjexors and extensors in men and women. J. Appl. Physiol. 25(2) : 177-180. 1968.-The strength of the elbow flexors and extensors of both arms was measured in 12 men and 1.1 women by means of an electric dynamometer. The results showed that, with the exception of two conditions in men, there was no statistically significant difference in str...

Motor actions are governed by coordinated activation of mono- and biarticular muscles. This study considered differences in mono- and biarticular knee extensors between runners and cyclists in the context of adaptations to task-specific movement requirements. Two hypotheses were tested: 1) the length-at-use hypothesis, which is that muscle adapts to have it operate around optimal length; and 2)...

BACKGROUND the central tenet of the neurofacilitatory approach to stroke therapy is that muscle tone needs to be normal before normal movement can occur. A reliable clinical measure of the full spectrum of muscle tone is needed to test: (i) the purported relationship between muscle tone, other motor impairments and disability, and (ii) the effectiveness of stroke therapy to restore movement. ...

Stepping activities when wearing a weighted vest may enhance physical function in older persons. Using 3 weighted-vest resistance dosages, this study characterized the lower-extremity joint biomechanics associated with stepping activities in elders. Twenty healthy community-dwelling older adults, ages 74.5 ± 4.5 yrs, performed 3 trials of forward step-up and lateral step-up exercises while wear...

Human motor cortex is capable of rapid and long-lasting reorganization, evident globally, as shifts in body part representations, and at the level of individual muscles as changes in corticospinal excitability. Representational shifts provide an overview of how various body parts reorganize relative to each other but do not tell us whether all muscles in a given body part reorganize in the same...