Korean J Health Promot KJHP Korean Journal of Health Promotion 2234-2141 2093-5676 Korean Society for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention 10.15384/kjhp.2019.19.2.114 Original Article Analysis of Contractile Properties in Gastrocnemius, Tibialis Anterior Muscle of Amateur Male Soccer Players Using Tensiomyography Lee Sam-Jun Bang Hyun-Seok Hwang Boo-Geun Department of Physical Education, Tongmyong University, Busan, Korea. Corresponding author: Boo-Geun Hwang, PhD. Department of Physical Education, Tongmyong University, 428 Sinseon-ro, Nam-gu, Busan 48520, Korea. Tel: +82-51-629-2145, Fax: +82-51-629-2019, hwangbg@tu.ac.kr 06 2019 30 06 2019 19 2 114 120 26 06 2019 05 07 2019 06 07 2019 Copyright © 2019 Korean Society for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention 2019 Korean Society for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background

Tensiomyography (TMG) is a relatively new technique that assesses the contractile properties of muscles in response to a single electrical stimulus. This study aimed to evaluate the contractile properties of the gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles in amateur soccer players using TMG.

 Methods

We recruited 41 male soccer players (high school group, n=21; college group, n=20). The gastrocnemius medialis (GM), gastrocnemius lateralis (GL), and TA muscles of both lower extremities were assessed using TMG. The maximal displacement (Dm), delay time, contraction time (Tc), sustained time, and half-relaxation time were obtained and compared between the two groups.

 Results

First, both groups showed low Dm for the GM and TA muscles, which indicated high stiffness of the muscle tone. Second, the Tc and contraction velocity (Vc) were high for all muscles, except for the GL showing lower speed than the other muscles, which represented the sports-specific characteristics of the soccer players. Third, there were no significant differences in the measurement variables between the dominant and non-dominant sides, except for the Tc of the GM in high school athletes and Vc of the TA in college athletes.

 Conclusions

These results reflected the sports-specific needs and characteristics of soccer players. A risk of injury is associated with a high degree of stiffness, and various methods for preventing it should be considered.

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1 12 15 (A) Components of tensiomyography system and (B) TMG record with parameters. Dm, maximal displacement; Tc, contraction time; Td, delay time; Tr, relaxation time; Ts, sustain time. Positioning of the subject during tibialis anterior (A) and gastrocnemius medialis (B) measurements. Comparison between dominant and non-dominant on Dm, Tc, Vc of high-school. Dm, displacement maximum; GL, gastrocnemius lateralis; GM, gastrocnemius medialis; TA, tibialis anterior; Tc, contraction time; Vc, contraction velocity. <sup>a</sup><italic>P</italic><0.05. Comparison between dominant and non-dominant on Dm, Tc, Vc of collegiate. Dm, displacement maximum; GL, gastrocnemius lateralis; GM, gastrocnemius medialis; TA, tibialis anterior; Tc, contraction time; Vc, contraction velocity. <sup>a</sup><italic>P</italic><0.05. Physical characteristics of subjects

Abbreviation: BMI, body mass index.

Values are presented as mean±standard deviation.

 Dm, Tc, Vc values for the analyzed muscles in each group

Abbreviations: Dm, displacement maximum; GL, gastrocnemius laterlalis; GM, gastrocnemius medialis; TA, tibialis anterior; Tc, contraction time; TMG, tensiomyography; Vc, contraction velocity.

Values are presented as mean±standard deviation.

aP<0.05.