Accuracy of Pinch Force Sense in Elite Female Adolescent Weightlifters
Kenan Erdağı1
, Melda Pelin Yargıç2, Galip Bilen Kürklü2, Leyla Aydın3
1Department of Physical Education and Sport, Ahmet Keleşoglu Faculty of Education, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey
2Department of Sports Medicine, Meram Faculty of Medicine, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey
3Department of Physiology, Meram Faculty of Medicine, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey
Keywords: pinch strength, force sense, proprioception, weightlifting, adolescence
Abstract
Objective: Force sense is an aspect of proprioception, which is most commonly assessed by reproducing a percentage of maximal voluntary isometric contraction. Exercise improves other aspects of proprioception such as joint position sense and kinesthesia, but there are contradictory findings regarding the effects of exercise on force sense. The purpose of this study is to assess the effects of long-term weightlifting training on pinch force sense of elite adolescent female athletes.
Materials and Methods: Maximum key and tip pinch strength of 25 elite female adolescent weightlifters and 22 sedentary peers were measured. Participants were asked to press the pinchmeter with 50% of their maximal strength 3 times while looking at the scale and try to learn how much force they apply. Participants then tried to reproduce 50% of their maximum key and tip pinch strength without any visual feedback 3 times. Absolute error, constant error, root mean square error and coefficient of variation were calculated and these values were normalized by dividing to the target values. Accuracy was evaluated by absolute error and root mean square error; directionality of errors was evaluated by constant error and the precision was evaluated by coefficient of variation.
Results: Weightlifter adolescents had higher key and tip pinch strength values compared to sedentary (p=0.03 and p=0.02, respectively). Normalized absolute error was lower in weightlifters in comparison with sedentary in both key and tip pinch force sense (p<0.01).
Conclusions: These results demonstrate that regular weightlifting training improves accuracy in pinch force sense, without affecting precision or directionality of error. In future studies, it would be appropriate to investigate whether higher accuracy in force sense would also be evident in adult or senior weightlifters.
Cite this article as: Erdagi K, Yargic MP, Kurklu GB, Aydin L. Accuracy of pinch force sense in elite female adolescent weightlifters. Turk J Sports Med. 2020;55(2):95-101.
The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
We kindly thank all volunteers who participated in our study and the coaches for their kind support.
