The neuromechanical functional contractile properties of the thigh muscles measured using tensiomyography in male athletes and non-athletes

Abstract

Involuntary neuromechanical muscle contractile properties, especially of the extensor muscles and knee joint flexors as the largest muscle groups of the caudal part of the body, play an important role in both everyday movement and sport. Based on these data we can obtain important information on the functional properties of muscles. The basic means of evaluation of the functional involuntary neuromechanical muscles contractile properties is the non-invasive tensiomyographic method (TMG). The aim of this study was to determine the differences between the involuntary neuromechanical contractile properties of the thigh muscles measured using the TMG method on a sample of male athletes and non-athletes. The sample of participants was made up of 17 athletes and 10 non-athletes. By applying the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and the t-test, we achieved results which indicate that of the overall 30 variables, a difference was determined among 13 of them. Most of the differences were determined for the extensor muscles of the right knee, especially of the rectus femoris muscle. It was also shown that in addition to the main knee joint extensor muscle (rectus femoris) the main knee joint flexor muscle (biceps femoris) also takes part in the definition of the difference between athletes and non-athletes. The results have shown that the following variables: contraction time (Tc) and delay contraction time (Td) are the functional parameters for which the highest difference between athletes and non-athletes were determined (from t = -2.284, p lt 0.05 for the vastus lateralis of the right leg to t = -4.018, p lt 0.01 for the rectus femoris of the left leg). These results have shown that it is possible to determine the differences in the functional involuntary neuromechanical contractile properties of the thigh muscles among trained and untrained individuals using the tensiomyographic method, but at the same time indicated that these differences were very specific since they refer only to certain properties.

Nevoljne neuromehaničke kontraktilne karakteristike mišića, naročito mišića opružača i pregibača zgloba kolena kao najvećih mišićnih grupa kaudalnog dela tela, imaju važnu ulogu kako u svakodnevnom kretanju tako i u sportu. Na osnovu tih podataka mogu se dobiti važne informacije o funkcionalnim karakteristikama mišića. Osnovni način za procenu funkcionalnih nevoljnih neuromehaničkih kontraktilnih karakteristika mišića jeste neinvazivna metoda tenziomiografije (TMG). Cilj ovog istraživanja je da se utvrdi razlika nevoljnih neuromehaničkih kontraktilnih karakteristika mišića butine merenih TMG-om između sportista i nesportista muškog pola. Uzorak ispitanika činilo je 17 sportista i 10 nesportista. Primenom multivarijantne analize varijanse (MANOVA) i t-testa došlo se do rezultata koji ukazuju na to da je od ukupno 30 varijabli utvrđena razlika kod 13. Najviše razlika utvrđeno je kod mišića opružača zgloba kolena desne noge, a naročito kod mišića rektus femorisa. Takođe pokazalo se da pored mišića koji je glavni opružač (rektus femoris) i mišić glavni pregibač zgloba kolena (biceps femoris), učestvuje u definisanju razlike između sportista i nesportista. Rezultati su pokazali da su varijable: vreme kontrakcije (Ts) i odloženo vreme kontrakcije (Td), funkcionalni parametri kod kojih je utvrđena najveća razlika između sportista i nesportista (od t = -2.284, r lt 0.05 za vastus lateralis desne noge do t = -4.018, r lt 0.01 za rektus femoris leve noge). Ovi rezultati su pokazali da je moguće utvrditi razlike funkcionalnih nevoljnih neuro-mehaničkih kontraktilnih karakteristika mišića butine kod treniranih i netreniranih osoba primenom metode tenziomiografije, ali su isto tako pokazali da su te razlike vrlo specifične jer se odnose samo na pojedine karakteristike.