137
Originals
Effect of Elastic Energy and Myoelectrical Potentiation of Triceps Surae During
Stretch-Shortening Cycle Exercise
C. Bosco, I. Tarkka, and P.V. Komi
Department of Eiology of Physical Activity, University of .lyväskylä, SF-40100 Jyväskylä 10, Finland
Abstract
C. Bosco, I. Tarkka, and P. V. Komi, Effect of Elastic Energy and
Myoelectrical Potentation of Triceps Surae During Stretch-
Shortening Cycle Exercise. Int J Sports Med, Vol 3, No 3,
pp 137—140, 1982.
Stretching of an activated muscle prior to its shortening enhances
its performance during the concentric contraction. This phenome-
non has been interpreted to be primarily due to the utilization of
elastic energy stared in the series elastic elements of the muscle
during the stretch. However, reflex potentation has also been sug-
gested as an additional cause for performance increase. To examine
this hypothesis five subiects performed maximal vertical jumps on
a force platform from two different starting positions: (a) maximal
plantar flexion from a static position )SJ) (pure concentric contrac-
tion), (b) a toe-standing position with preliminary counter-move-
ment (CMJI. In this condition the calf muscles were actively
stretched before concentric work. In both conditions the knee and
hip joints were fixed. The results indicated that the utilization of
the stretch-shortening cycle enhanced the performance over that
of the pure concentric contraction (P < 0.001). Similarly, the
EMG recording demonstrated that in all five subjects the myoelec-
trical activity of the calf muscles (mm. gastrocnemius and soleus)
was potentiated during the concentric phase in CMJ when com-
pared to SJ )P < 0.001). Therefore, the increase in performance
was attributed to a combination of utilization of elastic energy
and myoelectrical potentiation of muscle activation.
Key words: muscle mechanics, elastic energy, myoelectrical
potentiation, stretch-shortening cycle
-
Introduction
During the stretch of an activated muscle, mechanical ener-
gy is absorbed by the muscle, and this energy can be sub-
sequently reutilized if the shortening of the muscle imme-
diately follows the stretch (7, 8, 11). This energy is stored
in the form of elastic energy, and recently clear evidence
has been provided by animal and human experiments that
the reutilization of the elastic recoil enhances muscular
performance (3, 7, 8, 11). In most of the experiments in
human subjects with the nervous system intact, the im-
proved performance was attributed solely to the recoil of
elastic energy. However, suggestions have been given that
myoelectrical potentiation could also add to the total per-
forrnance potentiation during the stretch-shortening cycle
(5). Recently Bosco et al. (6) were able to demonstrate
the combined existence of both myoelectrical potentiation
and elastic recoil. However, because of the complexity of
the motion employed (multijoint activity) in that study,
the present investigation was undertaken to study the same
phenomenon in a simpler movement. For this reason, verti-
cal jumps involving only the ankle joint movement were
selected as test movements.
mt. 1. Sports Med. 3(1982)137—140
Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart. New York
Methods
Subjects
Five physical education students (age: 29 4.3 years;
height: 173.6 8.5 cm; weight: 70.2 10.9 kg) partici-
pated in the experiment, which consisted of performing
vertical jumps on the force platform (12) from two differ-
ent starting positions:
a) The subjects were instructed to perform maximal plantar
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flexion from a static position (the heel flat on the force
platform). This condition is called a squatting jump (SJ)
and was performed as a pure concentric contraction.
b) The second jump was performed from a toe-standing
position with a preliminary counter-movement (CMJ). In
this condition the calf muscles were actively stretched be-
fore the concentric work began.
To ensure that the performance was executed by the calf
muscles only, both the knee and hip joints were fixed with
an orthopaedic cast, thus allowing no movement.
Each jump produced a vertical force-time curve, examples
of which are given in Fig. 1. The force-time curve and
the flight time (tair) gave the basis for calculation of the
following mechanical parameters: vertical velocity at take-
off(Vv) and the average force developed during eccentric
(—F) and concentric (F) work (for details, see ref. 3). The
range of movement of the ankle joint was varied because
several jumps were performed with the force platform
inclinated by 15°; thus, the working length of the calf
muscles during both SJ and CMJ was shortened and
lengthened according to the position assumed by the sub-
jects. To examine the movement amplitude, an electro-
goniometer (Elgon) was attached to the lateral side of the
subject's ankle joint. Elgon recorded the angular displace-
ment with a resulting range from 28° to 55°. To study
the influence of the nervous activation, EMG activity from
mm. soleus and gastrocnemius lateralis were recorded with
surface electrodes (Beckman miniature skin electrodes)
and integrated separately for the eccentric and concentric
phases of the jump and expressed for a period of 1 s. The
total 43 jumps both in SJ and CMJ performed by all the
subjects were selected according to the similar range of
movement (± 2°) in the ankle joint. In the statistical treat-
ment of these samples, Student's t test and Pearson's cor-
relation coefficient were employed.
Results
In presenting the results, comparison is made in perform-
ance between SJ and CMJ conditions, which utilized simi-
138 mt. J. Sports Med. 3 (1982) C. Bosco, I. Tarkka, and P.V. Komi

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time

Fig. 1 Example of vertical force-time curve (above), electromyographic activity of the soleus muscle (middle), and knee angular displace-
ment (below) during vertical jump performed from a static position (SJ) (left) and counter-movement jump (CMJ) (right). The shaded area
represents the moment when the muscles are actively stretched.

lar movement around the ankle joint during the concentric

work phase. In all conditions, the height of rise of the IEMG
body's center of gravity in Si (mean 3.0 0.8 cm) was (pV€nl Qrnsoteun
significantly (P < 0.001) lower than that in CMJ (3.9 L2
fl m 9 ostroenernius
cm). Similarly, the average force demonstrated greater mag-
nitude (P < 0.001) in CMJ (mean 488 130 N) than in 300

Si (mean 228 47 N). The IEMG activity of mm. soleus

and gastrodnemius lateralis demonstrated similar patterns
of activation (Fig. 2). Therefore, the activities of both the
muscles were combined (Fig. 3). From Fig. 3 it can be 200

seen that as compared to the Si condition the IEMG activi-

ty of the triceps surae during the positive work phase was
greater in CMJ (P < 0.001). A positive relationship was ob-
served (r= 0.41) (P < 0.01) (Fig. 4) when the average
force (LF) differences between CMJ and Si conditions
were correlated to the respective differences in IEMG ac-
tivity (LdEMG).

Discussion CMJ CNJ

The difference in the height of rise of the center of gravity
and average positive force between CMJ and SI is in agree-
ment with earlier findings under similar experimental con-
ditions (3, 5, 9, 11). In addition to showing the existence
of elastic potentiation, the present results support the
recent findings of Bosco et al. (6), who attributed the en-
hancement in the stretch-shortening cycle exercise to the
combined effect of recoil of elastic energy and myoelectri-
cal potentiation. However, the authors were able to demon-
Fig. 2 Integrated EMG recorded from mm. soleus and gastrocne-
mius lateralis for the positive phase of SJ and negative and positive
phases of CMJ.
strate only a slight effect of myoelectricai potentiation.
This was attributed to the problems of two-joint muscles
(e.g., rectus femoris) when the vertical jump was performed
without fixation of the hip and knee joints. Therefore, it
 Effect of Elastic Energy and Myoelectrical Potentiation Tnt. J. Sports Med. 3 (1982) 139

I
IEMG MEMG S
700 CMJ - SJ
(1jVxs) 600 1 uVs)

600 J±SE
P (.0 01 500 ________
r=.41
500
p(.001 400
p 01
fl3 .. S

400
P(.0O1
300

300 S S
. S

200
S .
200
100
•. S
S
S
S

100
0 S AF(N)
•
-50
0 100 200 300 400 500

Fig. 4 The difference of average force (EF) between CMJ and Si

is plotted against the difference of integrated EMG (IEMG) be-
tween CMJ and SJ.

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IEMG /FORCE

1000 I
AVERAGE FORCE
(N)
I lorbitrory units)

+ JtSE

I-

Fig. 5 IEMG/average
force ratio of the calf
muscles during Si and
SJ CMJ CMJ conditions.

Si CMJ

Fig. 3 Integrated EMG recorded from mm. soleus and gastrocnemi-

us lateralis for Si and CMJ (upper panel). Average force calculated CMJSJ
for the positive phase of SJ and negative and positive phases in
CM.) (lower panel).

Fig. 6 Schematic pres-

was somewhat easier to demonstrate a clear myoelectrical entation of the poten-
potentiation in the present experiment (Fig. 3), when a tiation effect as esti-
single joint movement was utilized. This EMG potentiation mated from the average
WrI force difference (tF)
contributed to the improvement of the mechanical behav- (between CMJ and SJ)
ior of the calf muscles, as can be observed from the rela- separately for myo-
tionships found between F and LJEMG (Fig. 4). How- electrical potentiation
ever, the contribution to the enhanced performance of the (tlEMG) and recoil of
concentric work in CMJ from the recoil of elastic energy elastic energy (WEL).
Al EMG Calculation assumes
is also demonstrated in Fig. 5, which shows that to devel- linearity between IEMG
op the same amount of force in the concentric phase of and force.
CMJ, a smaller amount of IEMG was necessary. This is in
agreement with earlier findings when pure concentric and that the force developed during the concentric work of
eccentric contractions were compared (e.g., refs. 1, 2, 10). CMJ is linearly related to the IEMG activity (e.g., ref. 4),
Although it does not seem difficult to attribute the en- then it is possible to separate the effect of both restitution
hancement of the performance in CMJ to the combined of elastic energy and myoelectrical potentiation. In the
effect of myoelectrical activity and restitution of elastic present study, values of 72% and 28% could be calculated,
energy, a more difficult task is to estimate the relative respectively, for the elastic and myoelectrical potentiations
contribution of the two mechanisms. Assuming, however, (Fig. 6).
140 mt. J. Sports Med. 3 (1982)
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C. Bosco, Department of Biology of Physical Activity, University of Jyvdskyld, SF-401 00 Jyvdskyld 10, Finland
C. Bosco, I. Tarkka, and P.V. Komi
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