The effects of overhand throwing training on the muscular functions in people with Down syndrome: A kinetics and electromyographic approach

The reason of using the abnormal muscular functions by people with Down syndrome (DS) and the effect of exercise are unclear. So the purpose of this study was to investigate the muscle functions of people with DS and the effect of nine sessions throwing exercises on these patterns.

The present study was semi-experimental with pre-test, post-test and follow-up method. In this regard, people with DS were randomly divided into two groups of exercise(n=17) and control(n=10) and performed the overhand throwing in three phases of pre-test, post-test and follow-up. The numbers of overhand throwing training sessions were nine for experimental group. In all three phases, data related to the kinetics chain and electromyography data to calculate the co activation index between biceps and triceps brachii muscles were recorded.

The results of one-way ANOVA did not show any significant difference between the two groups in advantage from the kinetic chain in any of the test phases, but the results of intra-group comparisons showed that in the experimental group efficiency from use of the kinetic chain was improved in the post-test and follow-up. Also the co-activation index between the biceps and triceps brachii muscles in the experimental group compared to the control group decreased significantly in the post-test (F=10.013, P=0.004), but returned to the pre-test level in the follow-up (P>0.05).

Despite the positive effects of training on muscle functions in people with DS, it seems that some of these effects are due to the temporary neuromuscular adaptations.