Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 10, 2026
Muscle Imbalances: Testing and Training Functional Eccentric Hamstring Strength in Athletic Populations
Published on: May 1, 2018
Sex- and age-specific normative values for lower-limb field tests in elite TeamGym gymnasts
Stefan Turfors1, Anton Arndt2, Ulrika Tranaeus1
1Sports Performance & Sports Medicine, Department of Physiology, Nutrition and Biomechanics, The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden.
Objectives:
To establish sex- and age-specific normative values for lower-limb functional performance in elite TeamGym gymnasts and compare values between groups.
Design:
Cross-sectional study.
Participants:
216 elite junior (38 males, 50 females) and senior (64 males, 64 females) TeamGym gymnasts.
Main Outcome Measures:
Ankle dorsiflexion, hop for distance, height-adjusted hop for distance, side-hop performance, and heel-raise performance.
Results:
No significant sex- or age-group differences were observed in ankle dorsiflexion. Significant sex × age-group interactions were observed for hop for distance (p = .003), height-adjusted hop for distance (p = .013), and side-hop performance (p < .001). Senior males outperformed junior males across all hop outcomes (all p < .001), whereas females showed no age-group differences. Junior males outperformed junior females in absolute hop distance (p = .002), while senior males outperformed senior females across all hop outcomes (all p < .001). Males completed more heel raises than females (mean difference 4.60, 95% CI 1.91-7.30; p < .001), with no age-group difference.
Conclusions:
This study provides the first sex- and age-specific normative values for lower-limb functional performance in elite TeamGym gymnasts, providing sport-specific reference benchmarks for rehabilitation and return-to-sport assessment.
