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Musculo-tendinous and joint elastic characteristics during elbow flexion in children
1Département de Génie Biologique, Université de Technologie de Compiègne, UMR-CNRS 6600, BP 20529, 60205, Compiègne, Cedex, France.
Objective:
The aim of the present research was to determine joint stiffness and musculo-tendinous stiffness in children.
Background:
No reliable data was available on differences in such parameters when comparing children and adults.
Methods:
Sinusoidal perturbations and quick-released movements were applied to the right elbow during flexion to determine joint stiffness and musculo-tendinous stiffness, respectively. For normalization purposes, stiffness indexes were calculated as the slope of the relationship between stiffness and torque.
Results:
Main results were that musculo-tendinous stiffness indexes obtained in children were similar to adult data deduced from the literature. On the other hand, joint stiffness indexes obtained in children were in the range 0.9-3.8 rad(-1) and were lower than those reported in the literature for adults (between 4 and 8.5 rad(-1)).
Conclusion:
Since normalized musculo-tendinous stiffness is similar in children and in adults, it can be hypothesized that, during growth, increase in ability to produce force parallels elastic tissue development.
Relevance:
Stiffness parameters could be used, in the context of other functional tests, to characterize changes in muscle properties in neuromuscular disorders when elastic tissues are supposed to be altered.