Arampatzis Adamantios, Karamanidis Kiros, Morey-Klapsing Gaspar, De Monte Gianpiero, Stafilidis Savvas
German Sport University of Cologne, Institute of Biomechanics and Orthopaedics, Carl-Diem-Weg 6, 50933 Cologne, Germany.
J Biomech. 2007;40(9):1946-52. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2006.09.005. Epub 2006 Nov 13.
The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether the mechanical properties (i.e. force strain relationship) of the triceps surae tendon and aponeurosis relate to the performed sport activity in an intensity-dependent manner. This was done by comparing sprinters with endurance runners and subjects not active in sports. Sixty-six young male subjects (26+/-5 yr; 183+/-6 cm; 77.6+/-6.7 kg) participated in the study. Ten of these subjects were adults not active in sports, 28 were endurance runners and 28 sprinters. All subjects performed isometric maximal voluntary plantar flexion contractions (MVC) on a dynamometer. The distal aponeuroses of the gastrocnemius medialis (GM) was visualised by ultrasound during the MVC. The results showed that only the sprinters had higher normalised stiffness (relationship between tendon force and tendon strain) of the triceps surae tendon and aponeurosis and maximal calculated tendon forces than the endurance runners and the subjects not active in sports. Furthermore, including the data of all 66 examined participants tendon stiffness correlated significantly (r=0.817, P<0.001) with the maximal tendon force achieved during the MVC. It has been concluded that the mechanical properties of the triceps surae tendon and aponeurosis do not show a graded response to the intensity of the performed sport activity but rather remain at control level in a wide range of applied strains and that strain amplitude and/or frequency should exceed a given threshold in order to trigger additional adaptation effects. The results further indicate that subjects with higher muscle strength possibly increase the margin of tolerated mechanical loading of the tendon due to the greater stiffness of their triceps surae tendon and aponeurosis.
本研究的目的是调查腓肠肌肌腱和腱膜的力学性能（即力应变关系）是否以强度依赖的方式与所进行的体育活动相关。通过比较短跑运动员、耐力跑运动员和不从事体育活动的受试者来实现这一目的。66名年轻男性受试者（26±5岁；183±6厘米；77.6±6.7千克）参与了该研究。其中10名受试者是不从事体育活动的成年人，28名是耐力跑运动员，28名是短跑运动员。所有受试者在测力计上进行等长最大自主跖屈收缩（MVC）。在MVC期间，通过超声观察内侧腓肠肌（GM）的远端腱膜。结果表明，只有短跑运动员的腓肠肌肌腱和腱膜的归一化刚度（肌腱力与肌腱应变之间的关系）以及计算出的最大肌腱力高于耐力跑运动员和不从事体育活动的受试者。此外，纳入所有66名被检查参与者的数据后，肌腱刚度与MVC期间达到的最大肌腱力显著相关（r = 0.817，P < 0.001）。得出的结论是，腓肠肌肌腱和腱膜的力学性能对所进行的体育活动强度没有呈现出分级反应，而是在广泛的施加应变范围内保持在对照水平，并且应变幅度和/或频率应超过给定阈值才能触发额外的适应效应。结果还表明，肌肉力量较高的受试者可能由于其腓肠肌肌腱和腱膜的更大刚度而增加了肌腱耐受机械负荷的余量。
