Can gluteal muscle activation discriminate functional performance in moderately trained women? - A cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

This study verified whether the level of gluteal activation during a controlled maximum voluntary contraction may discriminate functional performance in women. Forty-five moderately trained women were assigned to two groups based on the level of gluteal muscle activation on maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) tests in the dominant limb: higher gluteal activation (HG—n = 22) and lower gluteal activation (LG—n = 22), considering different situations: a) level of activation of the gluteus medius muscle (GMed), b) level of activation of the gluteus maximus muscle (GMax), and c) level of combined activation of the GMed and GMax muscles. The cut-off values for the allocation of participants to groups in each situation were established as a function of the median values of each data set. Functional performance was assessed using the shuttle run, triple hop test, and six-metre timed hop test (STHT). The level of significance was set at 5%. Cohen’s d index was included to estimate the magnitude of existing differences. The HG showed significantly shorter times than the LG on STHT performance (p-values ranging from 0.03–0.04), with a moderate effect (Cohen’s d = 0.60–0.68) in all situations. The level of gluteal activation could discriminate STHT performance in women.

KEYWORDS:

• Electromyography
• functional performance
• gluteal muscles
• lower limb

Acknowledgments

Authors are grateful to Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brazil (CAPES - Financial Code 001) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG - APQ nº 02141-15 and scholarship).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was financed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brazil (CAPES - Financial Code 001) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais [FAPEMIG - APQ nº 02141-15 and scholarship].