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Bilateral differences in muscle fascicle architecture are not related to the preferred leg in jumping athletes

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European Journal of Applied Physiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

In many sports, athletes have a preferred leg for sport-specific tasks, such as jumping, which leads to strength differences between both legs, yet the underlying changes in force-generating mechanical properties of the muscle remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the muscle architecture of the medial gastrocnemius (MG) is different between both legs in well-trained jumping athletes and untrained individuals. In addition, we investigated the effect of two ankle joint positions on ultrasound muscle architecture measurements.

Methods

Muscle architecture of both legs was measured in 16 athletes and 11 untrained individuals at two ankle joint angles: one with the ankle joint in a tendon slack length (TSL) angle and one in a 90° angle.

Results

Fascicle lengths and pennation angles at TSL were not different between the preferred and non-preferred legs in either group. The comparison between groups showed no difference in fascicle length, but greater pennation angles were found in the athletes (21.7° ± 0.5°) compared to the untrained individuals (19.8° ± 0.6°). Analyses of the muscle architecture at a 90° angle yielded different results, mainly in the comparison between groups.

Conclusion

These results provide only partial support for the notion of training-induced changes in muscle architecture as only differences in pennation angles were found between athletes and untrained individuals. Furthermore, our results provide support to the recommendation to take into account the tension–length relationship and to measure muscle architecture at individually determined tendon slack joint angles.

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Abbreviations

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

ICC:

Intra-class correlations

MG:

Medial gastrocnemius

MTU:

Muscle–tendon unit

SEM:

Standard errors of measurement

TSL:

Tendon slack length

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully thank Dr. Charlotte Waugh for her help with data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Human Movement Biomechanics Research Group, Department of Kinesiology, KU Leuven-University of Leuven, 3000, Louvain, Belgium

    Jeroen Aeles, Sietske Lenchant, Liesbeth Vanlommel & Benedicte Vanwanseele

  2. Human Movement Biomechanics Research Group, KU Leuven, GBDN 02.15, Tervuursevest 101, Box 1501, 3001, Heverlee, Belgium

    Jeroen Aeles

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  1. Jeroen Aeles
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  2. Sietske Lenchant
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  3. Liesbeth Vanlommel
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  4. Benedicte Vanwanseele
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Correspondence to Jeroen Aeles.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of an independent ethical committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Communicated by Olivier Seynnes.

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Aeles, J., Lenchant, S., Vanlommel, L. et al. Bilateral differences in muscle fascicle architecture are not related to the preferred leg in jumping athletes. Eur J Appl Physiol 117, 1453–1461 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3638-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3638-5

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