Cargando…

Electromyographic Assessment of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Risk in Male Tennis Players: Which Role for Visual Input? A Proof-of-Concept Study

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury incidence is often underestimated in tennis players, who are considered as subjects conventionally less prone to knee injuries. However, evaluation of the preactivation of knee stabilizer muscles by surface electromyography (sEMG) showed to be a predictive val...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: de Sire, Alessandro, Marotta, Nicola, Demeco, Andrea, Moggio, Lucrezia, Paola, Pasquale, Marotta, Marcello, Iona, Teresa, Invernizzi, Marco, Leigheb, Massimiliano, Ammendolia, Antonio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8226924/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34070871
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11060997
_version_ 1783712403042598912
author de Sire, Alessandro
Marotta, Nicola
Demeco, Andrea
Moggio, Lucrezia
Paola, Pasquale
Marotta, Marcello
Iona, Teresa
Invernizzi, Marco
Leigheb, Massimiliano
Ammendolia, Antonio
author_facet de Sire, Alessandro
Marotta, Nicola
Demeco, Andrea
Moggio, Lucrezia
Paola, Pasquale
Marotta, Marcello
Iona, Teresa
Invernizzi, Marco
Leigheb, Massimiliano
Ammendolia, Antonio
author_sort de Sire, Alessandro
collection PubMed
description Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury incidence is often underestimated in tennis players, who are considered as subjects conventionally less prone to knee injuries. However, evaluation of the preactivation of knee stabilizer muscles by surface electromyography (sEMG) showed to be a predictive value in the assessment of the risk of ACL injury. Therefore, this proof-of-concept study aimed at evaluating the role of visual input on the thigh muscle preactivation through sEMG to reduce ACL injury risk in tennis players. We recruited male, adult, semiprofessional tennis players from July to August 2020. They were asked to drop with the dominant lower limb from a step, to evaluate—based on dynamic valgus stress—the preactivation time of the rectus femoris (RF), vastus medialis, biceps femoris, and medial hamstrings (MH), through sEMG. To highlight the influence of visual inputs, the athletes performed the test blindfolded and not blindfolded on both clay and grass surfaces. We included 20 semiprofessional male players, with a mean age 20.3 ± 4.8 years; results showed significant early muscle activation when the subject lacked visual input, but also when faced with a less-safe surface such as clay over grass. Considering the posteromedial–anterolateral relationship (MH/RF ratio), tennis players showed a significant higher MH/RF ratio if blindfolded (22.0 vs. 17.0% not blindfolded; p < 0.01) and percentage of falling on clay (17.0% vs. 14.0% in grass; p < 0.01). This proof-of-principle study suggests that in case of absence of visual input or falling on a surface considered unsafe (clay), neuro-activation would tend to protect the anterior stress of the knee. Thus, the sEMG might play a crucial role in planning adequate athletic preparation for semiprofessional male athletes in terms of reduction of ACL injury risk.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8226924
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-82269242021-06-26 Electromyographic Assessment of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Risk in Male Tennis Players: Which Role for Visual Input? A Proof-of-Concept Study de Sire, Alessandro Marotta, Nicola Demeco, Andrea Moggio, Lucrezia Paola, Pasquale Marotta, Marcello Iona, Teresa Invernizzi, Marco Leigheb, Massimiliano Ammendolia, Antonio Diagnostics (Basel) Article Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury incidence is often underestimated in tennis players, who are considered as subjects conventionally less prone to knee injuries. However, evaluation of the preactivation of knee stabilizer muscles by surface electromyography (sEMG) showed to be a predictive value in the assessment of the risk of ACL injury. Therefore, this proof-of-concept study aimed at evaluating the role of visual input on the thigh muscle preactivation through sEMG to reduce ACL injury risk in tennis players. We recruited male, adult, semiprofessional tennis players from July to August 2020. They were asked to drop with the dominant lower limb from a step, to evaluate—based on dynamic valgus stress—the preactivation time of the rectus femoris (RF), vastus medialis, biceps femoris, and medial hamstrings (MH), through sEMG. To highlight the influence of visual inputs, the athletes performed the test blindfolded and not blindfolded on both clay and grass surfaces. We included 20 semiprofessional male players, with a mean age 20.3 ± 4.8 years; results showed significant early muscle activation when the subject lacked visual input, but also when faced with a less-safe surface such as clay over grass. Considering the posteromedial–anterolateral relationship (MH/RF ratio), tennis players showed a significant higher MH/RF ratio if blindfolded (22.0 vs. 17.0% not blindfolded; p < 0.01) and percentage of falling on clay (17.0% vs. 14.0% in grass; p < 0.01). This proof-of-principle study suggests that in case of absence of visual input or falling on a surface considered unsafe (clay), neuro-activation would tend to protect the anterior stress of the knee. Thus, the sEMG might play a crucial role in planning adequate athletic preparation for semiprofessional male athletes in terms of reduction of ACL injury risk. MDPI 2021-05-30 /pmc/articles/PMC8226924/ /pubmed/34070871 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11060997 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
de Sire, Alessandro
Marotta, Nicola
Demeco, Andrea
Moggio, Lucrezia
Paola, Pasquale
Marotta, Marcello
Iona, Teresa
Invernizzi, Marco
Leigheb, Massimiliano
Ammendolia, Antonio
Electromyographic Assessment of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Risk in Male Tennis Players: Which Role for Visual Input? A Proof-of-Concept Study
title Electromyographic Assessment of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Risk in Male Tennis Players: Which Role for Visual Input? A Proof-of-Concept Study
title_full Electromyographic Assessment of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Risk in Male Tennis Players: Which Role for Visual Input? A Proof-of-Concept Study
title_fullStr Electromyographic Assessment of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Risk in Male Tennis Players: Which Role for Visual Input? A Proof-of-Concept Study
title_full_unstemmed Electromyographic Assessment of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Risk in Male Tennis Players: Which Role for Visual Input? A Proof-of-Concept Study
title_short Electromyographic Assessment of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Risk in Male Tennis Players: Which Role for Visual Input? A Proof-of-Concept Study
title_sort electromyographic assessment of anterior cruciate ligament injury risk in male tennis players: which role for visual input? a proof-of-concept study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8226924/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34070871
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11060997
work_keys_str_mv AT desirealessandro electromyographicassessmentofanteriorcruciateligamentinjuryriskinmaletennisplayerswhichroleforvisualinputaproofofconceptstudy
AT marottanicola electromyographicassessmentofanteriorcruciateligamentinjuryriskinmaletennisplayerswhichroleforvisualinputaproofofconceptstudy
AT demecoandrea electromyographicassessmentofanteriorcruciateligamentinjuryriskinmaletennisplayerswhichroleforvisualinputaproofofconceptstudy
AT moggiolucrezia electromyographicassessmentofanteriorcruciateligamentinjuryriskinmaletennisplayerswhichroleforvisualinputaproofofconceptstudy
AT paolapasquale electromyographicassessmentofanteriorcruciateligamentinjuryriskinmaletennisplayerswhichroleforvisualinputaproofofconceptstudy
AT marottamarcello electromyographicassessmentofanteriorcruciateligamentinjuryriskinmaletennisplayerswhichroleforvisualinputaproofofconceptstudy
AT ionateresa electromyographicassessmentofanteriorcruciateligamentinjuryriskinmaletennisplayerswhichroleforvisualinputaproofofconceptstudy
AT invernizzimarco electromyographicassessmentofanteriorcruciateligamentinjuryriskinmaletennisplayerswhichroleforvisualinputaproofofconceptstudy
AT leighebmassimiliano electromyographicassessmentofanteriorcruciateligamentinjuryriskinmaletennisplayerswhichroleforvisualinputaproofofconceptstudy
AT ammendoliaantonio electromyographicassessmentofanteriorcruciateligamentinjuryriskinmaletennisplayerswhichroleforvisualinputaproofofconceptstudy