Effect of Gender on the Quadriceps-to-Hamstrings Coactivation Ratio During Different Exercises

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gulcan Harput ◽  
A. Ruhi Soylu ◽  
Hayri Ertan ◽  
Nevin Ergun ◽  
Carl G. Mattacola

Context:Coactivation ratio of quadriceps to hamstring muscles (Q:H) and medial to lateral knee muscles (M:L) contributes to the dynamic stability of the knee joint during movement patterns recommended during rehabilitation and important for daily function.Objective:To compare the quadriceps-to-hamstring and medial-to-lateral knee muscles' coactivation ratios between men and women during the following closed kinetic chain exercises performed on a balance board: forward lunge, side lunge, single-leg stance, and single-leg squat.Design:Cross-sectional.Participants:20 healthy subjects (10 female and 10 male).Main Outcome Measures:Surface electromyography was used to measure the activation level of quadriceps (vastus lateralis and medialis) and hamstrings (biceps femoris and medial hamstrings) during forward- and side-lunge, single-leg-stance, and single-leg-squat exercises. Subjects were instructed during each exercise to move into the test position and to hold that position for 15 s. EMG was recorded during the 15-s isometric period where subjects tried to maintain a “set” position while the foot was on a balance board. Analysis of variance was used for statistical analysis.Results:There was a significant exercise-by-gender interaction for Q:H ratio (F3,48 = 6.63, P = .001), but the exercise-by-gender interaction for M:L ratio was not significant (F3,48 = 1.67, P = .18). Women showed larger Q:H ratio in side-lunge exercises than men (P = .002). Both genders showed larger M:L and lower Q:H ratio in a single-leg-stance exercise than in the other exercises.Conclusions:The results indicate that the forward- and side-lunge and single-leg-squat exercises should not be recommended as exercise where a balanced coactivation between quadriceps and hamstring muscles is warranted. Single-leg-stance exercise could be used when seeking an exercise where the ratio is balanced for both women and men.

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Myers ◽  
Mary Poletti ◽  
Robert J. Butler

Context:The Upper Quarter Y-Balance Test (YBT-UQ) is a unique movement test where individuals perform at the limits of their stability, requiring the coordination of balance, proprioception, range of motion, and stabilization. It is not yet clear if performance on the YBT-UQ differs between sports with dissimilar emphasis on upper-extremity performance.Objective:To compare performance on the YBT-UQ between wrestlers, whose sport requires some degree of closed-chain activity, and baseball players, whose sport is primarily open kinetic chain in nature.Design:Cross-sectional.Setting:High school preparticipation physical assessment.Participants:24 healthy high school male wrestlers (mean age 16.12 ± 1.24 y) and 24 healthy high school male baseball players (mean age 15.79 ± 1.25 y).Interventions:All subjects performed the YBT-UQ, which requires reaching in 3 directions while maintaining a push-up position.Main Outcome Measures:The variables of interest include the maximum reach in each direction, as well as the composite score. In addition, asymmetries between limbs for each reach direction were compared.Results:Wrestlers performed significantly better than baseball players in the medial direction, inferolateral direction, and in composite scores. In the medial direction, wrestlers exhibited greater scores (P < .01) on both left and right limbs, 10.5 ± 10.2%LL and 9.95 ± 10.2%LL, respectively. Significant differences (P < .01) were also observed in the inferolateral direction, with a difference of 11.3 ± 12.0%LL on the left and 8.7 ± 11.0%LL on the right. Composite scores were higher (P < .01) for the wrestlers, with a difference of 7.0% on the left and 7.1% on the right.Conclusions:This study suggests that wrestlers perform better on the YBT-UQ than baseball players. The findings may suggest sport-specific normative data for the YBT-UQ in high school athletes.


2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha N. Boudreau ◽  
Maureen K. Dwyer ◽  
Carl G. Mattacola ◽  
Christian Lattermann ◽  
Tim L. Uhl ◽  
...  

Context:Functional exercises are often used in strengthening programs after lower extremity injury. Activation levels of the stabilizing hip muscles have not been documented.Objective:To document the progression of hip-muscle activation levels during 3 lower extremity functional exercises.Design:Cross-sectional.Setting:Laboratory.Participants:44 healthy individuals, 22 women and 22 men.Intervention:Subjects, in 1 testing session, completed 3 trials each of the lunge (LUN), single-leg squat (SLSQ), and step-up-and-over (SUO) exercise.Main Outcome Measures:Root-mean-square muscle amplitude (% reference voluntary muscle contraction) was measured for 5 muscles during the 3 exercises: rectus femoris (RF), dominant and nondominant gluteus medius (GMed_D and GMed_ND), adductor longus (ADD), and gluteus maximus (GMX).Results:The RF, GMAX, and GMed_D were activated in a progression from least to greatest during the SUO, LUN, and SLSQ. The progression for the GMed_ND activation was from least to greatest during the SLSQ, SUO, and then LUN. Activation levels of the ADD showed no progression.Conclusion:Progressive activation levels were documented for muscles acting on the hip joint during 3 functional lower extremity exercises. The authors recommend using this exercise progression when targeting the hip muscles during lower extremity strengthening.


2007 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. 841-845 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bjørn O. Åsvold ◽  
Trine Bjøro ◽  
Tom I. L. Nilsen ◽  
Lars J. Vatten

Abstract Context: The association between thyroid function and blood pressure is insufficiently studied. Objective: The objective of the investigation was to study the association between TSH within the reference range and blood pressure. Design and Setting: This was a cross-sectional, population-based study. Subjects: A total of 30,728 individuals without previously known thyroid disease were studied. Main Outcome Measures: The main outcome measures were mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure and pulse pressure and odds ratio for hypertension (&gt;140/90 mm Hg or current or previous use of antihypertensive medication), according to categories of TSH. Results: Within the reference range of TSH (0.50–3.5 mU/liter), there was a linear increase in blood pressure with increasing TSH. The average increase in systolic blood pressure was 2.0 mm Hg [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4–2.6 mm Hg] per milliunit per liter increase in TSH among men, and 1.8 mm Hg (95% CI 1.4–2.3 mm Hg) in women. The corresponding increase in diastolic blood pressure was 1.6 mm Hg (95% CI 1.2–2.0 mm Hg) in men and 1.1 mm Hg (95% CI 0.8–1.3 mm Hg) in women. Comparing TSH of 3.0–3.5 mU/liter (upper part of the reference) with TSH of 0.50–0.99 mU/liter (lower part of the reference), the odds ratio for hypertension was 1.98 (95% CI 1.56–2.53) in men and 1.23 (95% CI 1.04–1.46) in women. Conclusion: Within the reference range of TSH, we found a linear positive association between TSH and systolic and diastolic blood pressure that may have long-term implications for cardiovascular health.


2021 ◽  
pp. bmjnph-2020-000225
Author(s):  
Jennifer Griffin ◽  
Anwar Albaloul ◽  
Alexandra Kopytek ◽  
Paul Elliott ◽  
Gary Frost

ObjectiveTo examine the effect of the consumption of ultraprocessed food on diet quality, and cardiometabolic risk (CMR) in an occupational cohort.DesignCross-sectional.SettingOccupational cohort.Participants53 163 British police force employees enrolled (2004–2012) into the Airwave Health Monitoring Study. A total of 28 forces across the UK agreed to participate. 9009 participants with available 7-day diet record data and complete co-variate data are reported in this study.Main outcome measuresA CMR and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension score were treated as continuous variables and used to generate measures of cardiometabolic health and diet quality. Secondary outcome measures include percentage of energy from fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, protein and non-milk extrinsic sugars (NMES) and fibre grams per 1000 kcal of energy intake.ResultsIn this cohort, 58.3%±11.6 of total energy intake was derived from ultraprocessed (NOVA 4) foods. Ultraprocessed food intake was negatively correlated with diet quality (r=−0.32, p<0.001), fibre (r=−0.20, p<0.001) and protein (r = −0.40, p<0.001) and positively correlated with fat (r=0.18, p<0.001), saturated fat (r=0.14, p<0.001) and nmes (r=0.10, p<0.001) intake . Multivariable analysis suggests a positive association between ultraprocessed food (NOVA 4) consumption and CMR. However, this main effect was no longer observed after adjustment for diet quality (p=0.209). Findings from mediation analysis indicate that the effect of ultraprocessed food (NOVA 4) intake on CMR is mediated by diet quality (p<0.001).ConclusionsUltraprocessed food consumption is associated with a deterioration in diet quality and positively associated with CMR, although this association is mediated by and dependent on the quality of the diet. The negative impact of ultraprocessed food consumption on diet quality needs to be addressed and controlled studies are needed to fully comprehend whether the relationship between ultraprocessed food consumption and health is independent to its relationship with poor diet quality.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. e047263
Author(s):  
Andrea Gibbons ◽  
Janet Bayfield ◽  
Marco Cinnirella ◽  
Heather Draper ◽  
Rachel J Johnson ◽  
...  

ObjectiveTo examine quality of life (QoL) and other patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in kidney transplant recipients and those awaiting transplantation.DesignLongitudinal cohort questionnaire surveys and qualitative semi-structured interviews using thematic analysis with a pragmatic approach.SettingCompletion of generic and disease-specific PROMs at two time points, and telephone interviews with participants UK-wide.Participants101 incident deceased-donor (DD) and 94 incident living-donor (LD) kidney transplant recipients, together with 165 patients on the waiting list (WL) from 18 UK centres recruited to the Access to Transplantation and Transplant Outcome Measures (ATTOM) programme completed PROMs at recruitment (November 2011 to March 2013) and 1 year follow-up. Forty-one of the 165 patients on the WL received a DD transplant and 26 received a LD transplant during the study period, completing PROMs initially as patients on the WL, and again 1 year post-transplant. A subsample of 10 LD and 10 DD recipients participated in qualitative semi-structured interviews.ResultsLD recipients were younger, had more educational qualifications and more often received a transplant before dialysis. Controlling for these and other factors, cross-sectional analyses at 12 months post-transplant suggested better QoL, renal-dependent QoL and treatment satisfaction for LD than DD recipients. Patients on the WL reported worse outcomes compared with both transplant groups. However, longitudinal analyses (controlling for pre-transplant differences) showed that LD and DD recipients reported similarly improved health status and renal-dependent QoL (p<0.01) pre-transplant to post-transplant. Patients on the WL had worsened health status but no change in QoL. Qualitative analyses revealed transplant recipients’ expectations influenced their recovery and satisfaction with transplant.ConclusionsWhile cross-sectional analyses suggested LD kidney transplantation leads to better QoL and treatment satisfaction, longitudinal assessment showed similar QoL improvements in PROMs for both transplant groups, with better outcomes than for those still wait-listed. Regardless of transplant type, clinicians need to be aware that managing expectations is important for facilitating patients’ adjustment post-transplant.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. e041516
Author(s):  
Wenchao Li ◽  
Jing Li ◽  
Junjian Yi

ObjectivesBetter understanding of the dynamics of the COVID-19 (2019 novel coronavirus disease) pandemic to curb its spread is now a global imperative. While travel restrictions and control measures have been shown to limit the spread of the disease, the effectiveness of the enforcement of those measures should depend on the strength of the government. Whether, and how, the government plays a role in fighting the disease, however, has not been investigated. Here, we show that government management capacities are critical to the containment of the disease.SettingWe conducted a statistical analysis based on cross-city comparisons within China. China has undergone almost the entire cycle of the anticoronavirus campaign, which allows us to trace the full dynamics of the outbreak, with homogeneity in standards for statistics recording.Primary and secondary outcome measuresOutcome measures include city-specific COVID-19 case incidence and recoveries in China.ResultsThe containment of COVID-19 depends on the effectiveness of the enforcement of control measures, which in turn depends on the local government’s management capacities. Specifically, government efficiency, capacity for law enforcement, and the transparency of laws and policies significantly reduce COVID-19 prevalence and increase the likelihood of recoveries. The organisation size of the government, which is not closely related to its capacity for management, has a limited role.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. e049926
Author(s):  
Sandra Angelika Mümken ◽  
Paul Gellert ◽  
Malte Stollwerck ◽  
Julie Lorraine O'Sullivan ◽  
Joern Kiselev

ObjectivesTo develop a German version of the original University of Alabama at Birmingham Study of Aging Life-Space Assessment (LSA-D) for measurement of community mobility in older adults within the past 4 weeks and to evaluate its construct validity for urban and rural populations of older adults.DesignCross-sectional validation study.SettingTwo study centres in urban and rural German outpatient hospital settings.ParticipantsIn total, N=83 community-dwelling older adults were recruited (n=40 from urban and n=43 from rural areas; mean age was 78.5 years (SD=5.4); 49.4% men).Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe final version of the translated LSA-D was related to limitations in activities and instrumental activities of daily living (ADL/iADL) as primary outcome measure (primary hypothesis); and with sociodemographic factors, functional mobility, self-rated health, balance confidence and history of falls as secondary outcome measures to obtain construct validity. Further descriptive measurements of health included hand grip strength, screening of cognitive function, comorbidities and use of transportation. To assess construct validity, correlations between LSA-D and the primary and secondary outcome measures were examined for the total sample, and urban and rural subsamples using bivariate regression and multiple adjusted regression models. Descriptive analyses of LSA-D included different scoring methods for each region. All parameters were estimated using non-parametric bootstrapping procedure.ResultsIn the multiple adjusted model for the total sample, number of ADL/iADL limitations (β=−0.26; 95% CI=−0.42 to −0.08), Timed Up and Go Test (β=−0.37; 95% CI=−0.68 to −0.14), shared living arrangements (β=0.22; 95% CI=0.01 to 0.44) and history of falls in the past 6 months (β=−0.22; 95% CI=−0.41 to −0.05) showed significant associations with the LSA-D composite score, while living in urban area (β=−0.19; 95% CI=−0.42 to 0.03) and male gender (β=0.15; 95% CI=−0.04 to 0.35) were not significant.ConclusionThe LSA-D is a valid tool for measuring life-space mobility in German community-dwelling older adults within the past 4 weeks in ambulant urban and rural settings.Trial registration numberDRKS00019023.


2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derya Ozer Kaya ◽  
Irem Duzgun ◽  
Gul Baltaci ◽  
Selma Karacan ◽  
Filiz Colakoglu

Objective:To assess and compare the effects of 6 mo of Pilates and calisthenics on multijoint coordination and proprioception of the lower limbs at the 3rd and 6th mo of training.Design:Randomized, controlled, assessor-blinded, repeated-measures.Setting:University research laboratory.Participants and Intervention:Healthy, sedentary, female participants age 25–50 y were recruited and randomly divided into 3 groups: a calisthenic exercise group (n = 34, mean age ± SD 40 ± 8 y, body-mass index [BMI] 31.04 ± 4.83 kg/m2), a Pilates exercise group (n = 32, mean age ± SD 37 ± 8 y, BMI 31.04 ± 4.83 kg/m2), and a control group (n = 41, mean age ± SD 41 ± 7 y, BMI 27.09 ± 4.77 kg/m2). The calisthenics and Pilates groups underwent related training programs for 6 mo, while the controls had no specific training.Main Outcome Measures:Coordination and proprioception of the lower extremities with concentric and eccentric performances in the closed kinetic chain assessed with the monitored rehab functional squat system at baseline and at the 3rd and 6th mo of training.Results:For the within-group comparison, coordinative concentric and eccentric deviation values were significantly decreased for both dominant and nondominant lower limbs at pretraining and at the 3rd and 6th mo posttraining in the calisthenics group (P < .05). In contrast, there was no improvement in the Pilates group throughout the training. However, for comparisons between groups, the baseline values of coordinative concentric and eccentric deviations were different in the calisthenics group than in Pilates and the controls (P < .05). There were no differences in the proprioception values of either visible or nonvisible movement in any group throughout the training (P > .05).Conclusions:It seems that calisthenic exercises are more likely to improve coordination of the lower extremity after 3 and 6 mo of training than Pilates exercises. Calisthenic exercises may be useful for individuals who require improved coordination.


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