Strength Asymmetries Are Muscle-Specific and Metric-Dependent

Gennaro Boccia, Samuel D'Emanuele, Paolo Riccardo Brustio, Luca Beratto, Cantor Tarperi, Roberto Casale, Tommaso Sciarra and Alberto Rainoldi
Additional contact information
Gennaro Boccia: Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy
Samuel D'Emanuele: Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement, University of Verona, 37129 Verona, Italy
Paolo Riccardo Brustio: Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy
Luca Beratto: NeuroMuscularFunction Research Group, School of Exercise and Sport Science, SUISM, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy
Cantor Tarperi: Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy
Roberto Casale: Opusmedica Persons Care & Research, NPO, 29121 Piacenza, Italy
Tommaso Sciarra: Joint Veterans Defence Center, Scientific Department, Army Medical Center, 00184 Rome, Italy
Alberto Rainoldi: NeuroMuscularFunction Research Group, School of Exercise and Sport Science, SUISM, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 14, 1-11

Abstract: We investigated if dominance affected upper limbs muscle function, and we calculated the level of agreement in asymmetry direction across various muscle-function metrics of two heterologous muscle groups. We recorded elbow flexors and extensors isometric strength of the dominant and non-dominant limb of 55 healthy adults. Participants performed a series of explosive contractions of maximal and submaximal amplitudes to record three metrics of muscle performance: maximal voluntary force (MVF), rate of force development (RFDpeak), and RFD-Scaling Factor (RFD-SF). At the population level, the MVF was the only muscle function that showed a difference between the dominant and non-dominant sides, being on average slightly (3–6%) higher on the non-dominant side. At the individual level, the direction agreement among heterologous muscles was poor for all metrics (Kappa values ≤ 0.15). When considering the homologous muscles, the direction agreement was moderate between MVF and RFDpeak (Kappa = 0.37) and low between MVF and RFD-SF (Kappa = 0.01). The asymmetries are muscle-specific and rarely favour the same side across different muscle-performance metrics. At the individual level, no one side is more performative than the other: each limb is favoured depending on muscle group and performance metric. The present findings can be used by practitioners that want to decrease the asymmetry levels as they should prescribe specific exercise training for each muscle.

Keywords: explosive contraction; muscle quickness; dominance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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