Chalatzoglidis George, Arabatzi Fotini, Christou Evangelos A
Department of Physical Education and Sports Science at Serres, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Serres, Greece.
Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology. Gainesville, USA.
J Hum Kinet. 2021 Jan 29;76:101-116. doi: 10.2478/hukin-2021-0003. eCollection 2021 Jan.
An important but unresolved research question in adolescent children is the following: "Does sport participation interact with maturation to change motor control and the mechanical and morphological properties of tendons?" Here, we address this important research question with a longitudinal study around the age of peak height velocity (PHV). Our purpose was to characterize the interactive effects of maturation and sports participation on motor control and the mechanical and morphological properties of the Achilles tendon (AT) in adolescent athletes and non-athletes. Twenty-two adolescent athletes (13.1 ± 1.1 years) and 19 adolescent non-athletes (12.8 ± 1.1 years) volunteered for this study. We quantified motor control as the coefficient of variation of torque during a ramp task. In addition, we quantified the AT morphological and mechanical properties using ultrasonography from 18 months before to 12 months after PHV. We found that motor control improved with maturation in both athletes and non-athletes. We found that athletes have a greater increase in body mass with maturation that relates to greater plantarflexion peak force and AT peak stress. Also, athletes have a thicker and longer AT, as assessed with resting cross-sectional area and length. Although the rate of increase in the morphological change with maturation was similar for athletes and non-athletes, the rate of increase in normalized AT stiffness was greater for athletes. This increased AT stiffness in athletes related to peak force and stress. In summary, maturation improves motor control in adolescent children. Further, we provide novel longitudinal evidence that sport participation interacts with maturation in adolescents to induce adaptive effects on the Achilles tendon morphology and mechanical properties. These findings have the potential to minimize the risk of injuries and maximize athletic development in talented adolescents.
“运动参与是否与成熟度相互作用，从而改变运动控制以及肌腱的力学和形态学特性？”在此，我们围绕身高增长速度峰值（PHV）年龄段开展了一项纵向研究，以解决这一重要研究问题。我们的目的是描述成熟度和运动参与对青少年运动员和非运动员运动控制以及跟腱（AT）力学和形态学特性的交互作用。22名青少年运动员（13.1±1.1岁）和19名青少年非运动员（12.8±1.1岁）自愿参与了本研究。我们将运动控制量化为斜坡任务期间扭矩的变异系数。此外，我们使用超声检查对从PHV前18个月到PHV后12个月期间的AT形态学和力学特性进行了量化。我们发现，运动员和非运动员的运动控制都随着成熟度的提高而改善。我们发现，随着成熟度的提高，运动员的体重增加幅度更大，这与更大的跖屈峰值力和AT峰值应力有关。此外，通过静息横截面积和长度评估，运动员的AT更厚且更长。尽管运动员和非运动员随着成熟度的形态学变化增加率相似，但运动员的标准化AT刚度增加率更大。运动员中这种增加的AT刚度与峰值力和应力有关。总之，成熟度改善了青少年儿童的运动控制。此外，我们提供了新的纵向证据，表明运动参与与青少年的成熟度相互作用，对跟腱形态和力学特性产生适应性影响。这些发现有可能将有天赋的青少年受伤风险降至最低，并最大限度地促进其运动能力发展。
