Individual Muscle Groups Performance Capacity Features and Presence of Functional Asymmetries in Сross-Country Skiers and Runners: an Original Article

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. Each sport, given the regularity of the training activity, affects the development of the musculoskeletal system and the muscular system and may cause functional motor asymmetries. Cyclical sports based on the repetition of the motor action, while forming the dominant side of the body for the successful implementation of a motor act, can be prerequisites for the development of an imbalance in muscle work and the appearance of typical sports injuries and diseases. In view of these features, early diagnostics of athletes on the formation of motor asymmetries becomes relevant in order to assess their degree of influence on the work of the whole body, to create conditions and methodological basis for their correction. AIM. To identify functional motor asymmetries in cross-country skiers and runners, to analyze the work of muscles in terms of their strength and endurance. MATERIALS AND METHODS. The article analyzes the results of diagnostics of children aged 1213 years old involved in athletics (n = 17) and cross-country skiing (n = 18). Testing was carried out on the basis of the state autonomous institution of the Sverdlovsk region Adaptive Paralympic and Deaflympic Reserve Sports School (Yekaterinburg) on the Humac Norm (USA) multifunctional simulator. The muscles of the upper and lower extremities were studied in a concentric mode of operation. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Motor asymmetries in hip flexion and extension muscles was revealed in cross-country skiers competing at 3 km and 5 km. Abduction and anterior thigh muscles were close to deficits. No asymmetric body work was detected in middle-distance runners. In terms of muscle strength and endurance, track and field athletes demonstrated higher performance in most of the studied muscles. CONCLUSION. In the future, the study is planned to continue by supplementing the data with dynamic diagnostics, analysis of indicators of muscle use in running and walking, and correlation of values with isokinetic testing and postural diagnostics of visual impairments.