Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Aug;117(8):1739-1746.
doi: 10.1007/s00421-017-3668-z. Epub 2017 Jun 24.

Muscular viscoelastic characteristics of athletes participating in the European Master Indoor Athletics Championship

Marco Gervasi  1 , Davide Sisti  2 , Stefano Amatori  2 , Marco Andreazza  2 , Piero Benelli  2 , Piero Sestili  2 , Marco Bruno Luigi Rocchi  2 , Anna Rita Calavalle  2
Affiliations

Muscular viscoelastic characteristics of athletes participating in the European Master Indoor Athletics Championship

Marco Gervasi et al. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2017 Aug.

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate how the viscoelastic characteristics of muscles (non-neural tone, elasticity and stiffness) vary as a function of age and gender in a sample of track and field master athletes. To compare these findings with data on related sedentary subjects in literature.

Methods: A total of 390 athletes (aged 35-99) were assessed during the European Master Athletics Indoor Championship 2016. A non-invasive measurement device called MyotonPro was used to measure tone, stiffness, and elasticity in the biceps brachii and rectus femoris muscles at rest. Linear regression analysis was used to assess the correlation between age and the measured parameters. To compare our results with previously reported data, we stratified participants according to gender and age.

Results: Tone was found to not be dependent on age, whereas stiffness was found to be age dependent. Elasticity was found to be both physical activity and age dependent. Tone (only for men), elasticity, and stiffness were lower in master athletes than in sedentary subjects.

Conclusions: Tone, elasticity, and stiffness change with aging; nevertheless, our findings suggest that physical activity can delay the effects of muscular aging, improving fitness in older people.

Keywords: Aging; Elasticity; Gender; Physical activity; Stiffness; Tone.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. J Child Neurol. 2004 Nov;19(11):894-901 - PubMed
    1. Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon). 2003 Jun;18(5):459-61 - PubMed
    1. Clin Physiol Funct Imaging. 2016 Jan;36(1):70-6 - PubMed
    1. Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2012 Sep-Oct;55(2):e31-9 - PubMed
    1. Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2016 Jan-Feb;62:59-67 - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources