Effects of Cycling-induced Fatigue on Lower Extremity Muscles Synergy in Novice Triathletes

Authors

1 Department of Sport biomechanics, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran

2 Department of Sports Biomechanics, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran.

3 Department of Sports Biomechanics, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran

Abstract

The study of muscle synergy is a new method to evaluate the function of the control system of the human body. Due to the physical demands of the nature of triathletes it appears that triathletes are affected by variety degrees of muscle fatigue. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of fatigue on lower limb muscles synergy in novice triathletes. Sixteen male novice triathletes participated in this semi-experimental study. Electromyography activity of rectus femoris, vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, biceps femoris, semitendinosus, gastrocnemius medial, soleus and tibialis anterior muscles were recorded before and after the cycling-induced fatigue protocol during running task. Non-negative matrix analysis algorithm approach was used to extract muscle synergies from electromyography signals. Pearson correlation method was emplyoed to measure the similarity of the extracted patterns. Paired-sample t-test was employed to compare the relative weight of muscles before and after the fatigue protocol (P<0.05). After muscle fatigue, the first and second synergy patterns showed high similarity and the third and fourth synergy patterns showed moderate similarity.  The relative weight of vastus lateralis muscle (P=0.012) and tibialis anterior (P=0.024) decreased significantly after muscle fatigue. The relative weight of semitendinosus (P=0.016) and soleus (P=0.031) muscles increased significantly after muscle fatigue. The number of four muscle synergies were obtained by variance accounted for method from electromyography activity data of muscles before and after muscle fatigue. Cycling-induced fatigue can affect the organized cooperation of the central nervous system to create synergy patterns in triathletes during running. It seems that disruption of synergy patterns and relative weight of lower limb muscles due to cycling-induced fatigue can change the mechanics of subsequent running in triathletes and increase the possibility of injury among these individuals.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

  1.            Serrancolí G, Monllau JC, Font-Llagunes JM. Analysis of muscle synergies and activation–deactivation patterns in subjects with anterior cruciate ligament deficiency during walking. Clin Biomech. 2016; 31:65–73. 

    1. Rozumalski A, Steele KM, Schwartz MH. Muscle synergies are similar when typically developing children walk on a treadmill at different speeds and slopes. J Biomech. 2017; 64:112–9.
    2. Bernstein N. The co-ordination and regulation of movements. Pergamon Press publisher, 1966.
    3. Koohestani A, Kobravi HR, Koohestani M. Identifying the muscle synergy pattern during human grasping. J Biomed Eng Med Imaging. 2015;1(6).
    4. Bentley DJ, Vleck VE. Pacing strategy and performance in elite world cup triathlon: a preliminary study. Med Sci Sport Exerc. 2004;36(5):S122.
    5. Chapman AR, Vicenzino B, Blanch P, Dowlan S, Hodges PW. Does cycling effect motor coordination of the leg during running in elite triathletes? J Sci Med Sport. 2008;11(4):371–80.
    6. Silder A, Gleason K, Thelen DG. Infeluence of bycicle seat tube angle and hand position on lower extremity kinematics and neuromuscular control: Implications for triathlon running performance. J Appl Biomech, 2011; 27: 297-305.
    7. Bonacci J, Vleck V, Saunders PU, Blanch P, Vicenzino B. Rating of perceived exertion during cycling is associated with subsequent running economy in triathletes. J Sci Med Sport. 2013;16(1):49–53.    
    8. Coso J Del, Gonzalez-Millan C, Salinero JJ, Abian-Vicen J, Soriano L, Garde S, et al. Muscle damage and its relationship with muscle fatigue during a half-iron triathlon. PLOS, 2012; 7(8): e43280.
    9. Marino GW, Goegan J. Work-energy analysis of triathletes running under bike/run and run only conditions. In: ISBS-Conference Proceedings Archive. 1993.
    10. Chapman AR, Vicentzino B, Blanch P, Hodges PW. Leg muscle recruitment during cycling is less developed in triathletes than cyclists despite matched cycling training loads. Exp Brain Res, 2007; 181(3) 503-18.
    11. Anbarian M, Sepehrian M, Nazem F, Hajiloo B. The Effect of Pedaling and Fatigue on Changes of Knee Muscles Co-contraction During Running in Triathletes. J Sport Biomech. 2015;1(1):5–13. (In Persian)
    12. Hajiloo behrouz, Anbarian M, Jalalvand A, Mirzapour M. The effect of fatigue on Electromyography activity pattern and Co-contraction of lower limb muscle during running. Razi J Med Sci. 2018; 25(1):83–91. (In Persian)
    13. Hajilou B, Anbarian M, Esmaili H, Sadeghi S. The effect of quadriceps fatigue on electromyographic activity of some knee joint muscles during stance phase of walking. 2014; 6:73-88. [In Persian]
    14. Hermens HJ, Freriks B, Merletti R, Stegeman D, Blok J, Rau G, et al. European recommendations for surface electromyography. Roessingh research and development. 1999;8(2):13-54.
    15. Anbarian M, Hajiloo B, Sepehrian M, Sadeghi S, Esmaieli H. The Effect of Quadriceps Fatigue on Co-Activation of Knee Muscles during Walking. Jundishapur Sci Med J. 2015;14(3):309–21. [In Persian]
    16. Esmaeili H, Anbarian M, Salari Esker F, Hajiloo B, Sanjari MA. Long-term effects of foot orthoseson leg muscles activity in individuals with pesplanus during walking. Sci J Kurdistan Univ Med Sci. 2014;19(1):88–98. [In Persian]
    17. Parijat P, Lockhart TE. Effects of quadriceps fatigue on the biomechanics of gait and slip propensity. Gait Posture. 2008;28(4):568–73.
    18. Clark DJ, Ting LH, Zajac FE, Neptune RR, Kautz SA. Merging of Healthy Motor Modules Predicts Reduced Locomotor Performance and Muscle Coordination Complexity Post-Stroke. J Neurophysiol. 2010;103(2):844–57.
    19. Oliveira AS, Gizzi L, Farina D, Kersting UG. Motor modules of human locomotion: influence of EMG averaging, concatenation, and number of step cycles. Front Hum Neurosci. 2014;8:335.
    20. Smale KB, Shourijeh MS, Benoit DL. Use of muscle synergies and wavelet transforms to identify fatigue during squatting. J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2016;28:158–66.
    21. Hajiloo B, Anbarian M, Esmaeili H, Mirzapour M. The effects of fatigue on synergy of selected lower limb muscles during running. J Biomech. 2020;103: 109692.
    22. Rozumalski A, Steele KM, Schwartz MH. Muscle synergies are similar when typically developing children walk on a treadmill at different speeds and slopes. J Biomech. 2017; 64: 112-119.

     

Journal of Advanced Sport Technology
Volume 6, Issue 1
April 2022
Pages 103-112

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 24 May 2022
  • Revise Date: 11 July 2022
  • Accept Date: 19 September 2022

Share

How to cite

Statistics