Single-leg Wingate Test in children: reliability and optimal braking force

Purpose: Single-leg cycle ergometry employing the protocol of the Wingate T est (WAnT) has been used to assess unilateral muscle power and leg-dominanc e. The objectives of this study were to determine the reliability of the si ngle-leg WAnT (SLWAnT) and to establish optimal braking force for the SLWAn T. Methods: Twenty female and 19 male subjects (prepubertals: 6.0-9.9 yr, 7 female and 6 male; midpubertals: 11.0-14.9 yr, 7 female and 7 male; and po stpubertals: 17.0-20.9 yr, 6 female and 6 male) came to the laboratory on t hree occasions. On each visit, they first performed two SLWAnT after a stan dardized warm-up, one with each leg. Braking force for these tests was kept constant throughout all visits. On each of the following visits, subjects performed four additional SLWAnT, two with each leg, with braking force var ying from test to test to determine the braking force associated with the h ighest performance over 30 s. Results: Although a significant increase in p erformance was observed from visit to visit in some groups, intraclass corr elation coefficients (which included trial-to-trial differences) of peak po wer and total work generated during the first two SLWAnT of each visit rang ed from 0.89 to 0.98. Optimal braking force (J.rev(-1)) could be estimated from 0.4052.body mass(1.4662) for all subjects irrespective of gender or ma turity. The standard error of estimate was lowest in the prepubertals and h ighest in postpubertals (8.3-31.3 J.rev(-1)). Conclusions: SLWAnT is a high ly reliable method to measure single-leg power. The above equation provides good estimates of optimal braking force. The SLWAnT can, therefore, be use d to monitor changes in single-leg power and to assess leg-dominance.