BACKGROUND Midportion Achilles tendinopathy (AT) is a common overuse injury, usually requiring several months of rehabilitation. Exercise therapy of the ankle plantar flexors (i.e. tendon loading) is considered crucial during conservative rehabilitation. Alfredson's isolated eccentric and Silbernagel's combined concentric-eccentric exercise programs have both shown beneficial results, but it is...

AIM The purpose was to evaluate the effects of fatiguing eccentric contractions (EC) on calcium (Ca2+) handling properties in mammalian type I muscles. We hypothesized that EC reduces both endogenous sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) content of releasable Ca2+ (eSRCa2+) and myofibrillar Ca2+ sensitivity. METHODS Isolated rat soleus muscles performed 30 EC bouts. Single fibres were isolated from the...

HYPOTHESIS The success of shoulder arthroplasty surgery has been limited by a common complication: glenoid implant loosening. Eccentric loading of the glenoid due to migration of the humeral head is considered to be the major cause of glenoid loosening and is referred to as the rocking-horse phenomenon. Glenoid implant loosening may cause pain, limitation of function, and the need for complicat...

Purpose: An appropriate activity of the knee agonist -antagonist muscles is important to resist against abnormal abduction-adduction moments loads around knee joint and reduce the risk of knee injuries. Exercise training has been commonly used as an intervention to improve neuromuscular activity within the synergic and/or agonist-antagonist muscles. However, maximizing the effectiveness of exer...