PURPOSE: Females are at greater risks of musculoskeletal injuries than are males, which may be related to decreased neuromuscular control in axial and/or frontal planes, offaxis neuromuscular control. The objective of this study was to investigate gender differences in offaxis neuromuscular control during stepping under a slippery condition. METHODS: Forty-three healthy subjects (21 males and 22 females) performed different stepping tasks under a slippery condition, namely, free pivoting task (FPT) to control axial plane pivoting, free sliding task (FST) to control frontal plane sliding, and free pivoting and sliding task (FPST) to control axial pivoting, and frontal sliding on a custom-made offaxis elliptical trainer. RESULTS: Compared to males, females showed significantly higher pivoting instability, higher max internal and external pivoting angles, higher mean max medial and lateral sliding distance, and higher entropy of time to peak EMG in the medial and lateral gastrocnemius muscles during the FPST and higher entropy of time to peak EMG in the lateral gastrocnemius muscle during the FPT and FST. CONCLUSIONS: The findings may help us understand potential injury risk factors associated with gender differences, and provide a basis for developing targeted neuromuscular training to improve offaxis neuromuscular control, and reduce musculoskeletal injuries associated with excessive offaxis loadings.
PURPOSE: Females are at greater risks of musculoskeletal injuries than are males, which may be related to decreased neuromuscular control in axial and/or frontal planes, offaxis neuromuscular control. The objective of this study was to investigate gender differences in offaxis neuromuscular control during stepping under a slippery condition. METHODS: Forty-three healthy subjects (21 males and 22 females) performed different stepping tasks under a slippery condition, namely, free pivoting task (FPT) to control axial plane pivoting, free sliding task (FST) to control frontal plane sliding, and free pivoting and sliding task (FPST) to control axial pivoting, and frontal sliding on a custom-made offaxis elliptical trainer. RESULTS: Compared to males, females showed significantly higher pivoting instability, higher max internal and external pivoting angles, higher mean max medial and lateral sliding distance, and higher entropy of time to peak EMG in the medial and lateral gastrocnemius muscles during the FPST and higher entropy of time to peak EMG in the lateral gastrocnemius muscle during the FPT and FST. CONCLUSIONS: The findings may help us understand potential injury risk factors associated with gender differences, and provide a basis for developing targeted neuromuscular training to improve offaxis neuromuscular control, and reduce musculoskeletal injuries associated with excessive offaxis loadings.
Authors: M S Redfern; R Cham; K Gielo-Perczak; R Grönqvist; M Hirvonen; H Lanshammar; M Marpet; C Y Pai; C Powers Journal: Ergonomics Date: 2001-10-20 Impact factor: 2.778
Authors: Scott C Landry; Kelly A McKean; Cheryl L Hubley-Kozey; William D Stanish; Kevin J Deluzio Journal: Am J Sports Med Date: 2007-10-05 Impact factor: 6.202
Authors: William P H Charlton; Thomas A St John; Michael G Ciccotti; Nichol Harrison; Mark Schweitzer Journal: Am J Sports Med Date: 2002 May-Jun Impact factor: 6.202
Authors: Song Joo Lee; Yupeng Ren; Alison H Chang; Joel M Press; Marc C Hochberg; Li-Qun Zhang Journal: IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng Date: 2020-06-26 Impact factor: 3.802