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Divergent isokinetic muscle strength deficits in street running athletes

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Abstract

Background

Running is a very popular activity and muscle strength imbalance has been treated with caution to prevent injuries.

Aim

The present study aimed to compare and correlate knee flexion and extension strength imbalance based on peak torque (PT) and total work (TW) in running athletes.

Methods

Thirty-eight male amateur running athletes (38 ± 6 years; 80.6 ± 8.3 kg; 177 ± 7 cm; 7.8 ± 8.4 years of training; 3.5 ± 0.9 training sessions a week; 33.5 ± 13.4 km of training per week) took part in the present study. Knee flexion eccentric and concentric PT and TW, as well as concentric knee extension PT and TW were assessed. PT- and TW-based hamstring-to-quadriceps ratios (H:Q), as well as PT and TW contralateral imbalance were quantified.

Results

A significant correlation was observed between TW and PT concentric knee flexion contralateral deficits (r = 0.52, p < 0.001). No further correlations were found among TW- and PT-based muscle strength imbalance variables (p > 0.05). All mean comparisons of H:Q and contralateral imbalances using TW or PT were significantly different (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

Our results showed that TW and PT muscle strength imbalance were unrelated, and the H:Q and contralateral imbalance profile of endurance runners may differ based on the isokinetic variable analyzed.

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Acknowledgements

We thank to CAPES and CNPq Brazilian Government Associations for support. We also thank to Universidade de Caxias do Sul and all the running athletes who participated in this research and made it possible.

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Author notes

  1. Rafael Grazioli Nataniel Sobieski contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Exercise Research Laboratory, Physical Education, Physiotherapy, and Dance School, Universidade Federal Do Rio Grande Do Sul, Rua Felizardo, 750 - Jardim Botânico, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil, CEP 90690-200

    Rafael Grazioli & Clarissa Muller Brusco

  2. Universidade de Caxias Do Sul, Caxias Do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Nataniel Sobieski & Anderson Rech

  3. Department of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Eurico N. Wilhelm

Authors
  1. Rafael Grazioli
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  2. Nataniel Sobieski
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  3. Eurico N. Wilhelm
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  4. Clarissa Muller Brusco
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  5. Anderson Rech
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rafael Grazioli.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors. The present study was evaluated and approved by the Universidade de Caxias do Sul’s Ethics and Research Committee under number 3.010.209.

Informed consent

The participants were informed about the research procedures and invited to read and sign the Informed Consent Form if they agreed. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Grazioli, R., Sobieski, N., Wilhelm, E.N. et al. Divergent isokinetic muscle strength deficits in street running athletes. Sport Sci Health 18, 781–788 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-021-00856-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-021-00856-2

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