ISOKINETIC PROFILE OF DORSIFLEXORS AND PLANTAR FLEXORS OF THE ANKLE -A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF ELITE VERSUS UNTRAINED SUBJECTS

A comparative study was made of the isokinetic characteristics of the ankle (plantar-flexion and dorsiflexion) in young men. Six cyclists, s even gymnasts, 10 soccer players and 25 non-athletic young men were te sted on the Cybex II+ dynamometer. Peak torque, torque acceleration en ergy (TAE), total work and average power were measured. Cyclists had s lightly higher (5%) mean plantar flexion than the others, but this was not significant. The situation was reversed for dorsiflexion. Moreove r, the average dorsiflexion per unit of plantar flexion was significan tly higher in the gymnasts than it was in the cyclists for both torque and work. This suggests that at a specific level of plantar flexion, the gymnasts had stronger dorsiflexion compared with the cyclists and that in sports involving jumping and running, increased attention shou ld be given to strengthening the antagonist muscle groups (dorsiflexor s) in order to achieve greater agonist-to-antagonist muscle balance th us preventing injury. The non-athletic subjects had substantially lowe r endurance capability in both flexors as measured by the endurance ra tio. This implies that identifiable specialization in particular muscl es results from training or participating in specialized sports.