Interindividual differences in upper limb muscle synergies during baseball throwing motion in male college baseball players

Abstract“Yips” are involuntary movements that interfere with the automatic execution of sports movements. However, how the coordination among the various muscles necessary for sports movements is impaired in athletes with yips remains to be fully understood. This study aimed to assess whether muscle synergy analysis through non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) could identify impaired spatiotemporal muscle coordination in baseball players with throwing yips. Twenty-two college baseball players, including 12 with and 10 without yips symptoms participated in the study. Electromyographic activity was recorded from 13 ipsilateral upper extremity muscles during full-effort throwing. Muscle synergies were extracted through NMF. Cluster analysis was conducted to identify any common spatiotemporal patterns of muscle synergies in players with yips. Whether individual players with yips showed deviations in spatiotemporal patterns of muscle synergies compared with control players was also investigated. Four muscle synergies were extracted for each player, but none were specific to the yips group. However, a more detailed analysis of individual players revealed that two of the three players who presented dystonic symptoms during the experiment exhibited specific patterns that differed from those in control players. By contrast, each player whose symptoms were not reproduced during the experiment presented spatiotemporal patterns of muscle synergies similar to those of the control group. The results of this study indicate no common spatiotemporal pattern of muscle synergies specific to the yips group. Furthermore, these results suggest that the spatiotemporal pattern of muscle synergies in baseball throwing motion is not impaired in situations where symptoms are not reproduced even if the players have yips symptoms. However, muscle synergy analysis can identify the characteristics of muscle coordination of players who exhibit dystonic movements. These findings can be useful in developing personalized therapeutic strategies based on individual characteristics of yips symptoms.

show abstract

Bilateral asymmetry of lower limb muscle synergies during walking

Sharifi,

Esmaeili,

Ziaei

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Walking is a complex motor skill involving significant interaction within the CNS and various biomechanical elements. Asymmetry is one of the most apparent characteristics of walking, which is controlled by muscle synergies. The asymmetry in muscle synergies during walking is not well understood. This study aimed to investigate limb asymmetry in synergistic control of the selected lower limb muscles during walking. The study included sixteen healthy male participants, and bilateral lower limb muscle activities were recorded during walking. Muscle synergies and relative muscle weights were extracted using non-negative matrix factorization. The results showed that for both dominant and non-dominant legs five synergies are sufficient to reconstruct the original signal. Activation patterns in the first, fourth, and fifth synergies showed high similarity, with differences in relative muscle weights observed in the first and third synergies. However, in the second synergy, the similarity of activation patterns between the legs was small with variations in specific lower limb muscles. These findings suggest that synergy structure is independent of leg dominance, but the similarities of activation patterns range from small to high between dominant and non-dominant legs.

show abstract

Interindividual differences in upper limb muscle synergies during baseball throwing motion in male college baseball players

Cited by 4 publications

References 43 publications

Electromyographic and kinematic characteristics of baseball players with yips exhibiting different types of dystonic movements: A two-case report

Electromyographic and kinematic characteristics of baseball players with yips exhibiting different types of dystonic movements: A two-case report

Spatiotemporal patterns of throwing muscle synergies in yips-affected baseball players

Bilateral asymmetry of lower limb muscle synergies during walking

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About