Reliability of Myotonometry in Swimming Athletes

Overview

The clinical analysis of athletes has been performed in the sports field to obtain parameters for reliable evaluations. Among the tools used is the myotonometry, an analysis capable of quantitatively measuring tone, stiffness and elasticity. Its reliability has been tested in several populations, however, showing changes in results and presenting high variability in the confidence interval, also, the values of myotonometry differ according to sample specificity and the biomechanical properties of each muscle. Therefore, it seems pertinent to perform the reliability analysis in swimming athletes and verify their applicability and if the values of tone and muscular biomechanical properties vary according to the specificity of the modality. It will be a test and retest study composed of 50 young male and female swimming athletes, aged between 12 and 20 years. The evaluation of myotonometry will be performed randomly by two evaluators and the parameters measured will be: tone, stiffness, elasticity, relaxation time of mechanical stress and displacement. In the test stage, the first evaluator will perform the measurements bilaterally on the muscles and the second evaluator will perform the same measurements in the same order immediately after the first one. After 15 minutes, the retest will be performed following the same order of evaluators in the test. For characterization of sample will be used descriptive statistic through central tendency and variability for all variables collected. Relative reliability will be tested by the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Absolute reliability will be verified by means of standard error of measurement (SEM), values of least detectable change (MMD) and coefficient of variation (CV). The statistical package SPSS Statistics 22.0 will be used to conduct the reliability analyses.

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