Muscular activity patterns in 1-legged vs. 2-legged pedaling

Sangsoo Park, Graham E Caldwell, Sangsoo Park, Graham E Caldwell

Abstract

Background: One-legged pedaling is of interest to elite cyclists and clinicians. However, muscular usage in 1-legged vs. 2-legged pedaling is not fully understood. Thus, the study was aimed to examine changes in leg muscle activation patterns between 2-legged and 1-legged pedaling.

Methods: Fifteen healthy young recreational cyclists performed both 1-legged and 2-legged pedaling trials at about 30 Watt per leg. Surface electromyography electrodes were placed on 10 major muscles of the left leg. Linear envelope electromyography data were integrated to quantify muscle activities for each crank cycle quadrant to evaluate muscle activation changes.

Results: Overall, the prescribed constant power requirements led to reduced downstroke crank torque and extension-related muscle activities (vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, and soleus) in 1-legged pedaling. Flexion-related muscle activities (biceps femoris long head, semitendinosus, lateral gastrocnemius, medial gastrocnemius, tensor fasciae latae, and tibialis anterior) in the upstroke phase increased to compensate for the absence of contralateral leg crank torque. During the upstroke, simultaneous increases were seen in the hamstrings and uni-articular knee extensors, and in the ankle plantarflexors and dorsiflexors. At the top of the crank cycle, greater hip flexor activity stabilized the pelvis.

Conclusion: The observed changes in muscle activities are due to a variety of changes in mechanical aspects of the pedaling motion when pedaling with only 1 leg, including altered crank torque patterns without the contralateral leg, reduced pelvis stability, and increased knee and ankle stiffness during the upstroke.

Keywords: Electromyography; Muscle activity; One-leg; Pedaling.

Copyright © 2021. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.

Figures

Graphical abstract
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
(A) Crank cycle; (B) Comparison of mean ± SD pedal angle; (C) Crank angular velocity; (D) Crank torque between 2-legged pedaling (Two-L; dashed line, light gray ± 1 SD) and 1-legged pedaling (One-L; solid line, dark gray ± 1 SD) trials. For pedal angle, positive angles indicate the toe pointed downward, with 0° indicating a horizontal pedal.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Comparison of mean activity electromyography linear envelope profiles for the 2-legged pedaling condition (Two-L; dotted line, light gray ± SD) and the 1-legged pedaling condition (One-L; solid line, dark gray ± SD). BFL = biceps femoris long head; LGA = lateral gastrocnemius; MGA = medial gastrocnemius; RF = rectus femoris; SOL = soleus; ST = semitendinosus; TA = tibialis anterior; TFL = tensor fasciae latae; VL = vastus lateralis; VM = vastus medialis.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Changes in integrated electromyography (iEMG) values (mean ± SD) from 2-legged pedaling (Two-L) to 1-legged pedaling (One-L) in (A) Q1; (B) Q2; (C) Q3; (D) Q4. Positive percent values indicate increased iEMG values for that quadrant in One-L, whereas negative values indicate reductions in One-L. *p < 0.05 between Two-L and One-L; numerals indicate mean change from Two-L to One-L. BFL= biceps femoris long head; LGA = lateral gastrocnemius; MGA = medial gastrocnemius; RF = rectus femoris; SOL = soleus; ST = semitendinosus; TA = tibialis anterior; TFL = tensor fasciae latae; VL = vastus lateralis; VM = vastus medialis.

References

    1. Neptune R.R., Kautz S.A., Hull M.L. The effect of pedaling rate on coordination in cycling. J Biomech. 1997;30:1051–1058.
    1. Raasch C.C., Zajac F.E., Ma B., Levine W.S. Muscle coordination of maximum-speed pedaling. J Biomech. 1997;30:595–602.
    1. Böhm H., Siebert S., Walsh M. Effects of short-term training using SmartCranks on cycle work distribution and power output during cycling. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2008;103:225–232.
    1. Bjørgen S., Hoff J., Husby V.S. Aerobic high intensity one and two legs interval cycling in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2009;106:501–507.
    1. Liang J.N., Brown D.A. Foot force direction control during a pedaling task in individuals post-stroke. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2014;11:63. doi: 10.1186/1743-0003-11-63.
    1. Carvalho C., Willén C., Sunnerhagen K.S. Relationship between walking function and one-legged bicycling test in subjects in the later stage post-stroke. J Rehabil Med. 2008;40:721–726.
    1. Elmer S.J., McDaniel J., Martin J.C. Biomechanics of counterweighted one-legged cycling. J Appl Biomech. 2016;32:78–85.
    1. Bini R.R., Jacques T.C., Lanferdini F.J., Vaz M.A. Comparison of kinetics, kinematics, and electromyography during single-leg assisted and unassisted cycling. J Strength Cond Res. 2015;29:1534–1541.
    1. Sargeant A.J., Davies C.T. Forces applied to cranks of a bicycle ergometer during one- and two-leg cycling. J Appl Physiol Respir Environ Exerc Physiol. 1977;42:514–518.
    1. Bini R.R., Jacques T.C., Vaz M.A. Joint torques and patellofemoral force during single-leg assisted and unassisted cycling. J Sport Rehabil. 2016;25:40–47.
    1. Hasson C.J., Caldwell G.E., van Emmerik R.E. Changes in muscle and joint coordination in learning to direct forces. Hum Mov Sci. 2008;27:590–609.
    1. Hug F., Boumier F., Dorel S. Altered muscle coordination when pedaling with independent cranks. Front Physiol. 2013;4:232. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2013.00232.
    1. Ting L.H., Raasch C.C., Brown D.A., Kautz S.A., Zajac F.E. Sensorimotor state of the contralateral leg affects ipsilateral muscle coordination of pedaling. J Neurophysiol. 1998;80:1341–1351.
    1. Park S. University of Massachusetts Amherst; Amherst, MA: 2018. Changes in muscle control and coordination in novel task learning. [Dissertation]
    1. Broker J.P., Gregor R.J. A dual piezoelectric element force pedal for kinetic analysis of cycling. Int J Sport Biomech. 1990;6:394–403.
    1. Hermens H.J., Freriks B., Disselhorst-Klug C., Rau G. Development of recommendations for SEMG sensors and sensor placement procedures. J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2000;10:361–374.
    1. Hug F., Dorel S. Electromyographic analysis of pedaling: a review. J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2009;19:182–198.
    1. Torchiano M. Effsize: efficient effect size computation. Available at: . [accessed 29.06.2018].
    1. Gibbons R.D., Hedeker D.R., Davis J.M. Estimation of effect size from a series of experiments involving paired comparisons. J Educ Stat. 1993;18:271–279.
    1. Cohen J. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc; Hillsdale, NJ: 1988. Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences.
    1. R Development Core Team. The R project for statistical computing. Available at: . [accessed 25.05.2018].
    1. Li L., Caldwell G.E. Muscle coordination in cycling: effect of surface incline and posture. J Appl Physiol. 1998;85:927–934.
    1. Marsh A.P., Martin P.E. The relationship between cadence and lower extremity EMG in cyclists and noncyclists. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1995;27:217–225.
    1. Ting L.H., Kautz S.A., Brown D.A., Zajac F.E. Contralateral movement and extensor force generation alter flexion phase muscle coordination in pedaling. J Neurophysiol. 2000;83:3351–3365.
    1. Hug F., Turpin N.A., Couturier A., Dorel S. Consistency of muscle synergies during pedaling across different mechanical constraints. J Neurophysiol. 2011;106:91–103.
    1. Sharifi M., Shirazi-Adl A., Marouane H. Computational stability of human knee joint at early stance in gait: effects of muscle coactivity and anterior cruciate ligament deficiency. J Biomech. 2017;63:110–116.
    1. Gribble P.L., Mullin L.I., Cothros N., Mattar A. Role of cocontraction in arm movement accuracy. J Neurophysiol. 2003;89:2396–2405.
    1. Barroso F.O., Torricelli D., Moreno J.C. Shared muscle synergies in human walking and cycling. J Neurophysiol. 2014;112:1984–1998.
    1. Masood T., Bojsen-Møller J., Kalliokoski K.K. Differential contributions of ankle plantarflexors during submaximal isometric muscle action: a PET and EMG study. J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2014;24:367–374.
    1. Ericson M.O., Nisell R. Efficiency of pedal forces during ergometer cycling. Int J Sports Med. 1988;9:118–122.
    1. Raasch C.C., Zajac F.E. Locomotor strategy for pedaling: muscle groups and biomechanical functions. J Neurophysiol. 1999;82:515–525.
    1. Ambrosini E., De Marchis C., Pedrocchi A. Neuro-mechanics of recumbent leg cycling in post-acute stroke patients. Ann Biomed Eng. 2016;44:3238–3251.

Source: PubMed

Sponsor e collaboratori

Condizioni mediche

Interventi farmacologici

3
Sottoscrivi