Taekwondo training improves the neuromotor excitability and reaction of large and small muscles.

This study measured the neuromotor excitability and reaction time in professional and amateur Taekwondo (TKD) practitioners and compared them with non-athletes. A cross-sectional cohort study design. Exercise laboratory setting. 40 TKD practitioners (20 professionals, 20 amateurs) and 20 non-athletes. Neuromotor excitability (rheobase), premotor reaction time (PRT), total reaction time (TRT) and electromechanical delay (EMD) of rectus femoris (RF) and flexor pollicis brevis (FPB) in response to audio and visual stimuli were measured. The professional TKD practitioners have shorter TRT than non-athletes with sport-specific visual stimuli but they have longer PRT and TRT in response to audio stimuli than the amateur practitioners and non-athletes. The professional practitioners have longer EMD than the amateurs in responding to audio (p = 0.032) and sports-specific visual stimuli (p = 0.03) in FPB. Professional practitioners have higher excitability in RF (p < 0.001) than the amateurs and non-athletes. We conclude that professional TKD practitioners have better neuromotor ability in both large and small muscles with faster reactions to sport-specific stimuli, suggesting a generalized training effect across muscles. They react slower to non-sport specific stimuli, which suggested a decreased sensitivity to irrelevant sensory inputs after intensive TKD training. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Citation

Polly Chung, Gabriel Ng. Taekwondo training improves the neuromotor excitability and reaction of large and small muscles. Physical therapy in sport : official journal of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Sports Medicine. 2012 Aug;13(3):163-9

Mesh Tags

PMID: 22814450

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