2009 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Estimation of muscle contraction force using muscle hardness changes

Research Project

Project/Area Number	19500568
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Sports science
Research Institution	Keio University
Principal Investigator	MURAYAMA Mitsuyoshi Keio University, 体育研究所, 准教授 (20245632)
Project Period (FY)	2007 – 2009
Keywords	筋硬度 / 筋力 / スポーツ生理学 / スポーツパフォーマンス
Research Abstract	The objective of this study was to estimate the voluntary muscle-contraction force by evaluating muscle hardness. For this purpose, we developed a novel contact-type muscle hardness device and compared its effectiveness to those of conventional indentation devices in terms of the measurement of variations in muscle hardness during isometric contractions. By doing so, we established a significant relationship between muscle strength and muscle hardness for both the devices. The novel contact-type muscle hardness meter is particularly effective in evaluating real-time muscle hardness during isometric contractions and the high linear correlation between muscle hardness and the muscle-contraction force. In other words, it can be concluded that the muscle-contraction force can be evaluated from muscle hardness. Furthermore, the proposed device can effectively apply the muscle condition in the sports activity.

(2 results)