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Improving Strength, Power, Muscle Aerobic Capacity, and Glucose Tolerance through Short-term Progressive Strength Training Among Elderly People
Published on: July 5, 2017
The Associations between Rapid Strength Development and Muscle Stiffness in Older Population
Masatoshi Nakamura1,2, Ryosuke Kiyono1, Shigeru Sato1
1Institute for Human Movement and Medical Sciences, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Niigata 950-3198, Japan.
Background:
Previous studies suggest that the capacity for rapid force production of ankle plantar flexors is essential for the prevention of falls in the elderly. In healthy young adults, there were significant associations between rate of force development and muscle stiffness measured by shear wave elastography. However, there has been no study investigating the association of rate of force development with shear elastic modulus in older adults.
Methods:
The muscle strength and shear elastic modulus of the medial gastrocnemius muscle in both legs were measured in 17 elderly men and 10 elderly women (mean ± SD; 70.7 ± 4.1 years; 160.6 ± 8.0 cm; 58.7 ± 9.5 kg). We investigated the rate of force development of plantar flexors and shear elastic modulus of medial gastrocnemius muscle using by shear wave elastography.
Results:
Our results showed that there were no significant associations between normalized rate of force development and shear elastic modulus of medial gastrocnemius muscle.
Conclusion:
This suggests that the capacity of rapid force production could be related not to muscle stiffness of the medial gastrocnemius muscle, but to neuromuscular function in older individuals.
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