Gender-related differences in trunk muscle strength during the Sorensen test in a young and healthy population: an EMG-based comparative study

Details

Supervisors

Hinnekens, Simon ; Hidalgo, Benjamin

Faculty

Faculté des sciences de la motricité

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences de la motricité, orientation générale

Abstract

Several studies have evaluated the fatigue of the back-extensor muscles using the Sorensen test. They all agreed to a gender difference in favour of women but have emitted different hypotheses to explain this phenomenon. What remains unknown is the amount of force deployed by the two genders while performing this test. Study objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the gender-related differences in trunk muscle strength during the Sorensen test, and eventually see if they match with the fatigue results previously cited. Method: 17 women and 19 men, young, healthy, and with no antecedent of back pain were recruited. After a warm up, they performed three maximal voluntary contraction tests and five static tests (carrying additional weights) in the position of the Sorensen test. Results: Two opposite results were obtained in this study. During the voluntary maximal contraction test, a difference in force produced by the trunk muscles during the posture of the Sorensen test was observed (p = 0.001). However, in static tests, both groups used almost the same percentage of their maximal voluntary contraction (p> 0.05). The lumbar paravertebral muscles were the most activated compared to the other trunk muscles in both types of tests. The addition of masses has no significant effect on the force exerted below 6 kg for women and 8 kg for men. Consequently, it would be interesting to conduct additional studies, with the use of heavier masses for the static tests.