Masticatory Muscles Activity in Sport Climbers

Abstract

Masticatory muscle activity during teeth clenching is associated with changes in many physiological parameters throughout the body. Clenching can improve muscle activity, force production, rate of force development, and joint fixation. Hence, teeth clenching and masticatory muscle activity can be important in competitive sports activities. Sport climbing is becoming increasingly popular and will be included for the first time in the Summer Olympic Games, Tokyo, 2020. However, masticatory muscle activity in sport climbers has not yet been studied. The aim of the presented study is to compare the bioelectrical activity of the masticatory muscles in sport climbers and non-climbers in order to determine the relationship between these muscles and climbing activity. 44 subjects without masticatory system disorders (16 women and 28 men, average age 26.3) were divided into two groups of 22 sport climbers (8 women, 14 men, climbing experience >4 years), while 22 people (8 women, 14 men, with no regular sports activity) were assigned to the control group. Electromyographic examination of temporalis anterior (TA) and masseter muscle (MM) was evaluated in three conditions: during resting mandibular position, during maximum intercuspation clenching, and during maximum voluntary clenching with cotton rolls between teeth. For statistical analysis, the W Shapiro-Wilk test and the Mann-Whitney U test were used. Sport climbers showed significantly higher bioelectrical activities of MM during maximum intercuspation clenching (238.45 μV vs. 83.87 μV, p = 0.002), and during maximum voluntary clenching with cotton rolls between teeth (300.01 μV vs. 101.38 μV, p = 0.001) compared to controls. The differences between groups in relation to the resting bioelectrical activity of the MM muscles, and TA muscles in all conditions were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Higher bioelectrical activity of masseter muscles during clenching in climbers can be associated with this sports activity. However, the mechanism remains unknown and requires future research.

Ecological Study on the Oral Health of Romanian Intellectually Challenged Athletes

“…Mentally challenged persons tend to have poorer oral hygiene, more periodontal diseases, higher rates of untreated caries, and more extracted or compromised first permanent molars [ 3 ] and more unmet oral treatment needs [ 4 , 5 ]. As sport is associated with increased masticatory muscle activity [ 6 ], this can lead to bruxism, tooth wear, and tooth sensitivity, which makes athletes with ID more prone to temporo-mandibular disorders [ 7 ].…”

Novel Functional Indices of Masticatory Muscle Activity

“…Despite the frequent use of RMS sEMG data (µV) during clenching/mouth opening and both the AsI and AcI indices, the above-mentioned variables are based solely on the masticatory muscle activity during functional tasks. Therefore, the comparison of mentioned variables between individuals may depend on several external factors unrelated to the dysfunction within the analyzed muscle, e.g., individual anatomy differences, movement patterns, physical activity level, gender, and/or age [ 27 , 28 , 29 ]. Hence, the analysis of activity and asymmetry indices only during functional activity (without considering the resting activity) may affect the reliable assessment and subsequent interpretation of the obtained results.…”

“…Hence, the comparison of these indices between individuals may depend on many factors. Thus, reduced reliability of the indices may result from the clenching force generation between subjects, e.g., males vs. females [ 27 ], athletes vs. physically inactive individuals [ 28 ], long-face individuals vs. individuals with normal facial dimensions [ 29 ]. Therefore, we suggest new functional indices for assessing activity and asymmetry within masticatory muscles, taking into account both resting and functional activity.…”

Mouthguard-effect of high-intensity weight training on masticatory muscle tone and stiffness in taekwondo athletes

“…However, they suggested that wearing a mouthguard could increase anaerobic performance and increase the isokinetic peak torque of the hamstring muscles. On dated, only some studies published to masticatory muscle activity while with or without wearing a mouthguard were found in the literature ( Ginszt et al, 2020 ; Raquel et al, 2017 ). Wearing mouthguard can be expected to modulate unnecessary masticatory muscle activity of combat sports athlete ( Raquel et al, 2017 ).…”