East Carolina University : Research and Creative Achievement Week 2012
Loaded Visuomotor Training Does Not Lead to Increased Strength Gains Compared to Traditional Resistance Training in Healthy Young Adults, Jeff Morgan1, Patrick Rider1, Stanislaw Solnik2, Paul DeVita1, Tibor Hortobรกgyi3, 1 Department of Kinesiology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, 2 Department of Kinesiology, Penn State University, State College, PA, 3 Center for Human Movement Sciences, University of Groningen, The Netherlands Introduction: Skilled tasks, such as visuomotor tasks, involving movements with high variation in speed and direction have been associated with adaptations in the neurological system. These adaptations manifest at a supraspinal level within the brain. Early gains in strength that occur during resistance training protocols are commonly attributed to adaptations of the neurological system. Despite the invariable and repetitive nature of traditional resistance training exercises, adaptations to the neurological system have been similarly shown to occur within the brain. These observations lead to the hypothesis that the practice of a visuomotor skill task under a loaded condition could produce greater neural adaptations and consequently increased strength gains compared to traditionalresistance training. Objective: The purpose of this study is to compare strength gains between groups practicing a loaded visuomotor task and a traditional resistance training protocol. GP74 Methods: 16 healthy (n=8 for each group), college age subjects participated in 12 sessions of either a traditional resistance training program performing unilateral bicep curls or an analogous visuomotor skill task under a loaded condition. The visuomotor task consisted of vertical control of a cursor displayed on a computer screen while attempting to match a displayed target path through position of the elbow joint. An electronic goniometer provided joint position feedback to control the cursor. Performance outcomes were measured with pre and post-training elbow flexor strength assessments using an isokinetic dynamometer. A repeated measures analysis of variance (p < 0.05) was used to determine statistical significance. Results: Both groups significantly increased peak torque production in the training arm from pre to post (p = .002). Peak torque improved from 37.6 Nm to 43.2 Nm in the strength training group and from 35.1 Nm to 39.0 Nm in the visuomotor group. The difference between groups was not statistically significantly. Conclusions: A clear training effect was present and showed efficacy for both protocols. Although changes from pre to post appeared to be more robust in the strength training group, there was no statistical significance possibly due to the relatively small sample sizes and high variability between subjects. The data does not support the hypothesis.
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