Gymnastik- och idrottshögskolan, GIH

Introduction: In Nordic skiing all sitting athletes compete in the same event competition. The sitting positions differ between athletes. Most of the athletes sit knee-seated, or with their thighs tilted downward (KL) and free to move their trunk. Some athletes do not have the possibility to sit in that position and therefore adjust their sitting position. For example, athletes with reduced muscle control in hips and lower trunk sit with their knees higher than their hips (KH) to increase stability.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine how sitting position KL and KH affects the muscular power.

Methods: One female able-bodied athlete performed one test session in each sitting position (KL and KH) comprising five times 3 minutes sub-maximal exercise and a maximal time-trial in a double-poling ergometer (ThoraxTrainer A/S, Denmark). During the tests 3D kinematics (Qualisys AB, Sweden), pole forces and power output were measured. From the measured data, participant and test specific musculo-skeletal inverse-dynamics simulation models were created using the AnyBody Modelling system (AMS 6.0, Anybody Technology A/S, Denmark). From the simulations of submaximal exercise power output 37 W, 52 W and maximal time-trial the muscular metabolic power (mMP) was computed according to Holmberg (2013).

Results: The power output in maximal exercise was higher in KL (90.1 W) compared to KH (74.7 W). During both submaximal and maximal exercise, the total muscular metabolic power was larger in KL compared to KH (KL mean 861 W and KH mean 682 W). The muscular metabolic power also showed larger relative involvement of legs in KL (KL mean 18 % and KH mean 4 %) and larger relative involvement of arms and trunk in KH.

Conclusion: That sitting position KL compared to KH is related to higher performance for athletes without impairment in hips and trunk is known before (Gastaldi, 2012). However, the results from this study explains why performance is higher in KL, i.e. that larger muscular metabolic power are produced in the legs. This study also shows the size of the involvement of legs, which could be interesting for development of classification rules.