Undergraduate Honors Thesis

 

Changes in Medial Gastrocnemius Activity Under Different Sensory Conditions When Dancers Perform a Balance Task Public Deposited

https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/0k225c080
Abstract
  • The medial gastrocnemius, an important calf muscle, plays a role when dancers seek to maintain balance. In order to balance, the somatosensory, visual, and vestibular systems work in conjunction to control muscle activity. The activation of skeletal muscles can be recorded with high-density surface electromyography, which allows for a dynamic assessment of the amplitude of the muscle activity in millivolts through calculating the root mean square (RMS) of the signal. The purpose of the study was to measure medial gastrocnemius activity in dancers during single-leg balance when standing on either a foam surface with eyes open or a rigid surface with eyes closed. The data and methods drew from a study by Davis et al. (2021) and provided the basis for this research. Nineteen participants with dance experience performed the single-leg balance tests and the data were pooled from before and after a 4-week exercise intervention. The results revealed significantly higher medial gastrocnemius activity during single-leg balance on the rigid surface with eyes closed as compared to the foam surface with eyes open, when measured as both monopolar (p = 2.98x10-06) and single differential (p = 0.003) RMS amplitude. The results demonstrated the influence of visual feedback on calf muscle activity in dancers when performing different types of single-leg balance activities. 

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  • 2021-03-26
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  • 2021-04-12
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