Understanding the Effect of Body Weight on Muscle Activity During Unilateral Hopping

Authors

Christian Lopez
Michael Soucy, BS, University of Nevada Las VegasFollow
John Mercer, PhD, University of Nevada Las VegasFollow
Taylor Lau, University of Nevada Las Vegas

Keywords

Unilaterally/Bilaterally; Body Weight Support; Electromyography

Disciplines

Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education | Community College Leadership | Higher Education | Immune System Diseases | Medicine and Health Sciences | Public Health | Translational Medical Research | Virus Diseases

Abstract

Running can be described as a series of bilateral single-legged jumps and landings. Interestingly, single-legged jumps and landings are qualitatively more difficult unilaterally than bilaterally known as bilateral deficit syndrome (BDS). For example, one leg will produce less mechanical energy while jump squatting unilaterally than it would produce if both legs worked synchronously. The analysis of dynamic conditions under different levels of body weight support of the hopping movement may prove useful to understanding the bilateral deficit. Purpose: To compare muscle activity of the lower extremity during single-legged hopping at different levels of body weight support.

Methods: The research study was recently approved by the Institutional Review Board and data collection has begun. Therefore, no data are presented in the abstract at this time. Subjects will be equipped with electromyography (EMG) leads to measure muscle activity of the rectus femoris, semitendinosus, medial gastrocnemius, and tibialis anterior. Subjects will be asked to perform 5 trials of hopping forwards at a preferred speed (PS) for 1 minute at varying levels of body weight (80%, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%). EMG data of all four muscles will be compared across the separate body weight control conditions.

Recommended Citation

Lopez, Christian; Soucy, BS, Michael; Mercer, PhD, John; and Lau, Taylor (2016) "Understanding the Effect of Body Weight on Muscle Activity During Unilateral Hopping," Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice: Vol. 9: Iss. 5, Article 68.
Available at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/jhdrp/vol9/iss5/68