Riding posture affects quadriceps femoris oxygenation during an incremental cycle exercise in cycle-based athletes

Although oxygenation levels and muscle recruitment patterns of the quadriceps femoris during an incremental cycling exercise has been reported, oxygenation and activation profiles of the quadriceps femoris in racing posture in cycle-based athletes remain unknown. This study aimed to examine the effects of riding posture on oxygenation and neuromuscular activation of quadriceps femoris during an incremental cycling exercise in cycle-based athletes. Nine cycle-based athletes and nine nonathletic subjects performed an incremental cycling exercise at a constant cadence of 90 rpm. Riding postures were the racing posture using an aero-handle bar (aero posture) and the usual upright racing posture as the control (upright posture). Near-infrared spectroscopy and surface electromyography were recorded from vastus lateralis and rectus femoris. Changes in the tissue oxygenation index of the near-infrared spectroscopy from baseline were calculated, and the amplitudes of electromyographic signals were normalized to the initial values of the exercise in each muscle. In cycle-based athletes, changes in the tissue oxygenation index of vastus lateralis and rectus femoris in the aero posture were significantly lower than those obtained in the upright posture throughout the exercise, whereas no significant differences between the postures were observed in the normalized electromyographic amplitudes of vastus lateralis and rectus femoris. A significant difference between the postures was only occurred in changes of the tissue oxygenation index of rectus femoris in the final phase of exercise in nonathletic subjects. It appears that riding posture affects the oxygenation pattern of quadriceps femoris during incremental cycling exercise in cycle-based athletes. The main results of this study suggest that aero posture during incremental cycle exercise enhanced the muscular oxygen consumption of the quadriceps femoris in the trained cyclists.