Warming-up before sporting activity improves knee position sense

Magalhães, Tiago; Ribeiro, Fernando; Pinheiro, Ana; Oliveira, José

doi:10.1016/j.ptsp.2010.06.001

« Previous Next »Physical Therapy in Sport
Volume 11, Issue 3 , Pages 86-90, August 2010

Warming-up before sporting activity improves knee position sense

Tiago Magalhães
- Polytechnic Health Institute of the North, Vale do Sousa Higher School of Health, Department of Physiotherapy, R. Central de Gandra, 1317, 4585-116 Gandra PRD, Portugal
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +351 91 2084165; fax: +351 224157102.
Fernando Ribeiro
- Polytechnic Health Institute of the North, Vale do Sousa Higher School of Health, Department of Physiotherapy, R. Central de Gandra, 1317, 4585-116 Gandra PRD, Portugal
- University of Porto, Faculty of Sport, Research Centre in Physical Activity, Health and Leisure, Rua Dr. Plácido Costa, 91 – 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
Ana Pinheiro
- Polytechnic Health Institute of the North, Vale do Sousa Higher School of Health, Department of Physiotherapy, R. Central de Gandra, 1317, 4585-116 Gandra PRD, Portugal
José Oliveira
- University of Porto, Faculty of Sport, Research Centre in Physical Activity, Health and Leisure, Rua Dr. Plácido Costa, 91 – 4200-450 Porto, Portugal

Received 13 February 2010; received in revised form 4 June 2010; accepted 7 June 2010. published online 01 July 2010.

Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the effects of a warm-up program on knee joint position sense in karatekas.

Design

Repeated measures design.

Setting

Research laboratory. Participants: Ten young amateur karatekas (17.6 ± 4.0 years of age).

Main Outcome Measures

Knee joint position sense evaluated before and immediately after a warm-up program through active repositioning in open kinetic chain (OKC) and closed kinetic chain (CKC).

Results

At baseline testing no differences were observed between OKC and CKC in absolute (4.1 ± 1.6° vs. 3.4 ± 2.0°) and relative angular errors (2.4 ± 3.4° vs. 2.1 ± 3.5°). After the warm-up program, a significant decrease in absolute angular error was observed only in CKC (from 3.4 ± 2.0° to 1.8 ± 0.5, p < 0.05). Additionally, in CKC the subjects reduced the relative angular error to approximately zero (from 2.1 ± 3.5° to −0.01 ± 1.6°) and decreased the variability of the responses, expressed by the decrease in standard deviation of the relative errors.

Conclusions

The warm-up program enhanced knee joint position sense only in CKC. Since no effects were detected in OKC, the evaluation of the effects of warm-up on knee joint position sense using merely an OKC technique would underestimate the valuable role of warm-up.

Keywords: Proprioception, Warm-up exercise, Open kinetic chain, Closed kinetic chain