Friday, October 4, 2013

How to assess bilateral strength assymetry

Most of the sport scientists use isokinetic strength assessments to evaluate bilateral strength assymetry. However, this method is expensive and time consuming. It can also be argued that both the speed and the mode of muscle action is far from what is happening in real life. It appears that performing a vertical jump test on a force platform is a good alternative. It is much cheaper and evaluates muscle strength assymetries with a functional test.

This test should be repeated for the left and the right leg unless you have a system with two synchronized force platforms. Impellizzeri and his colleagues (MSSE 2007) have used this test and suggested that the range of normal bilateral assymetry should by -15 to 15%. These normative values are from more than 300 Italian football players (professional, semi-professional and amateur level).

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