Document Type
Journal Article
Publisher
Lippincott Williams and Wilkins
School
Exercise Medicine Research Institute / Centre for Exercise and Sport Science Research
RAS ID
20988
Abstract
Purpose
Asymmetrical loading patterns are commonplace in football sports. Our aim was to examine the influence of training age and limb function on lower-body musculoskeletal morphology.
Methods
Fifty-five elite football athletes were stratified into less experienced ( ≤ 3 yr; n = 27) and more experienced ( > 3 yr; n = 28) groups by training age. All athletes underwent whole-body dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scans and lower-body peripheral quantitative computed tomography tibial scans on the kicking and support limbs.
Results
Significant interactions between training age and limb function were evident across all skeletal parameters (F16, 91 = 0.182, P = 0.031, Wilks Λ = 0.969). Asymmetries between limbs were significantly larger in the more experienced players than the less experienced players for tibial mass (P ≤ 0.044, d ≥ 0.50), total cross-sectional area (P ≤ 0.039, d ≥ 0.53), and stress-strain indices (P ≤ 0.050, d ≥ 0.42). No significant asymmetry was evident for total volumetric density. More experienced players also exhibited greater lower-body tibial mass (P ≤ 0.001, d ≥ 1.22), volumetric density (P ≤ 0.009, d ≥ 0.79), cross-sectional area (P ≤ 0.387, d ≥ 0.21), stress-strain indices (P ≤ 0.012, d ≥ 0.69), fracture loads (P ≤ 0.018, d ≥ 0.57), and muscle mass and cross-sectional area (P ≤ 0.016, d ≥ 0.68) than less experienced players.
Conclusions
Asymmetries were evident in athletes as a product of limb function over time. Chronic exposure to routine high-impact gravitational loads afforded to the support limb preferentially improved bone mass and structure (cross-sectional area and cortex thickness) as potent contributors to bone strength relative to the high-magnitude muscular loads predominantly afforded to the kicking limb
DOI
10.1249/MSS.0000000000000897
Comments
This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of:
Hart, N. H., Nimphius, S., Weber, J., Spiteri, T., Rantalainen, T., Dobbin, M., & Newton, R. U. (2016). Musculoskeletal asymmetry in football athletes: a product of limb function over time. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 48(7), 1379-87.
https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000000897