Authors: Laurent Vigouroux Benjamin Goislard de Monsabert Eric Berton
Publish Date: 2014/12/17
Volume: 115, Issue: 5, Pages: 947-957
Abstract
Twelve climbers nine males and three females and 13 nonclimber males participated in this study Each subject performed a set of maximal voluntary contractions about the wrist and the metacarpophalengeal joints during which net joint moments and electromyographic activities were recorded From this data set the muscle capacities of the five main muscle groups of the hand wrist flexors wrist extensors finger flexors finger extensors and intrinsic muscles were estimated using a biomechanical model This process consisted in adjusting the physiological crosssectional area PCSA and the maximal muscle stress value from an initial generic modelResults obtained from the model provided several new pieces of information compared to the analysis of only the net joint moments Particularly the capacities of the climbers were 371 higher for finger flexors compared to nonclimbers and were similar for finger extensor and for the other muscle groups Climbers thus presented a greater imbalance between flexor and extensor capacities which suggests a potential risk of pathologiesThe practice of climbing not only increased the strength of climbers but also resulted in specific adaptations among hand muscles The proposed method and the obtained data could be reused to optimize the training programs as well as the rehabilitation processes following hand pathologies
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