Reliability of Myotonometry in Swimming Athletes

Muscle Tone,Stiffness

The clinical analysis of athletes has been performed in the sports field to obtain parameters
 for reliable evaluations. Among the tools used is the myotonometry, an analysis capable of
 quantitatively measuring tone, stiffness and elasticity. Its reliability has been tested in
 several populations, however, showing changes in results and presenting high variability in
 the confidence interval, also, the values of myotonometry differ according to sample
 specificity and the biomechanical properties of each muscle. Therefore, it seems pertinent to
 perform the reliability analysis in swimming athletes and verify their applicability and if
 the values of tone and muscular biomechanical properties vary according to the specificity of
 the modality. It will be a test and retest study composed of 50 young male and female
 swimming athletes, aged between 12 and 20 years. The evaluation of myotonometry will be
 performed randomly by two evaluators and the parameters measured will be: tone, stiffness,
 elasticity, relaxation time of mechanical stress and displacement. In the test stage, the
 first evaluator will perform the measurements bilaterally on the muscles and the second
 evaluator will perform the same measurements in the same order immediately after the first
 one. After 15 minutes, the retest will be performed following the same order of evaluators in
 the test. For characterization of sample will be used descriptive statistic through central
 tendency and variability for all variables collected. Relative reliability will be tested by
 the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Absolute reliability will be verified by means
 of standard error of measurement (SEM), values of least detectable change (MMD) and
 coefficient of variation (CV). The statistical package SPSS Statistics 22.0 will be used to
 conduct the reliability analyses.