Comparison of the Isokinetic Strength of the Knee and Ankle and Isometric Strength of the Lumbar Extensor in Female Collegiate Dancers and Controls
In dancers, intact muscular coordination is a well balanced antagonist, which could be a decisive factor in protection against injury as dancers often have hypermobile joints and their ankle joints often bear their full body weight in extreme positions. The purposes of this study were to identify the isokinetic strength to the knee and ankle and the isometric strength of the trunk in female collegiate dancers and controls. Furthermore, the study aimed to investigate the peak torque ratio of knee extension to flexion, ankle plantarflexion (PF) to dorsiflexion (DF), and dominant legs to nondominant. Twenty-one female collegiate dancers (20.0 years of age) and twenty-one female collegiate students (19.3 years of age) performed isokinetic maximum efforts of the knee extensors and flexors at and , the ankle plantarflexors and dorsiflexors at and and isometric maximum efforts of the lumbar extensors at 0˚, 12˚, 24˚, 36˚, 48˚, 60˚, and 72˚. The results were as follows: The isokinetic peak torque of the knee extensors and the ratio of knee extensors to flexors of dancers were significantly higher than those of controls (p<.01). However, the isometric peak torque of the back extensors (p<.01) and isokinetic peak torque of the ankle plantarflexors and dorsiflexors (p<.05) of dancers were significantly lower than those of controls. Further studies are needed to identify the difference in proprioception of the joints between dancers and controls.