Bilateral Muscle Oxygenation Characteristics During the 60-s Bosco Test

Abstract

Long track speedskating is a sport that places unequal demands on each leg. While both legs supply power equally in the straight-aways, the right leg supplies the power in the turns while the left leg provides a stable platform to generate this power. To determine if there is a difference between the muscles this laboratory conducted several tests during which the same demand was placed on both legs. During these tests we measured the level of muscle oxygenation and the patterns of deoxygenation of both legs during these tests. This is a presentation of the muscle oxygenation/ deoxygenation of the left and right vastus lateralis during the 60-second Bosco Test. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine if the vastus lateralis muscle of the left and right legs demonstrate different characteristics during a 60 second jumping test (the Bosco test). METHOD: Elite level speedskaters (n = 11, male = 9, female = 2) completed the Bosco test during a testing camp. During the test time off of a jump mat was recorded (DataLab 2000, Lafayette Instrument Company) and muscle oxygenation of the vastus lateralis of the left and right legs was measured (InSpectra, Hutchinson Technologies, Inc.) RESULTS: All subjects completed the same number of jumps (54.20 + 3.38) during the 60 seconds. However the muscle deoxygenation profile of each leg was different. The left leg did not reach its low value until after the right leg (Time to Low: L 40 s + 10.49 v R 26.36 + 3.23). Both legs reoxygenated in the same time course (Time to Recovery: L 1:47 + 0:23 s v R 1:35 + 0:31). CONCLUSION: These results seems to indicate that the left and right vastus lateralis muscles have different oxygenation characteristics during exercise but similar characteristics following exercise.