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KINETIC COMPARISONS ACROSS RESERVE OFFICER TRAINING CORPS BRANCHES

Abstract

Limb asymmetry in muscular strength and force production may contribute to injury risk and reduced retention in military trainee populations like the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). PURPOSE: To examine limb asymmetry during concentric and eccentric motion among ROTC cadets. METHODS: Participants were recruited from ROTC units (n=44) 21 Air Force [Means: 74.67 kg, 172.1 m] 10 Army [Means: 77.25 kg, 174.86 m], 6 USMC [Means: 69.43 kg, 175.12 m] 7 Navy [Means: 77.94 kg, 176.84 m] to participate in two sessions. Session 1 was a consent and familiarization session for the isokinetic dynamometer. During session 2, participants performed isometric concentric (con) knee flexion/extension, isokinetic (60 deg/sec & 120 deg/sec) con/con knee flexion/extension, and isokinetic 90 deg/sec con/eccentric (ecc) knee flexion/extension. Participants were then instrumented for motion capture with dual embedded force platforms to measure mechanics during lunging and jumping tasks. Multiple one-way ANOVAs were used to determine potential limb and branch differences in dependent variables. RESULTS: No significant differences were found for any strength variables (p>0.05; see table). CONCLUSION: While our findings do not reveal statistically significant differences in strength asymmetry between branches, unexamined biomechanical variations may exist. This study focused on knee mechanics, potentially overlooking asymmetries in other joints or movement patterns. Future research incorporating a broader analysis of lower-limb biomechanics, including multiplanar movements and additional joint contributions, may better identify inter-branch differences in limb asymmetry. Bilateral Strength differences of Knee Sagittal Plane Branch 60 d/s Fl Pk 60 d/s Ext Pk 120 d/s Fl Pk 120 d/s Ext Pk Iso Ext Pk 90 d/s Con Pk 90 d/s Ecc Pk Air Force -6.9 (16.0) -4.7 (33.1) -1.4 (11.3) -6.1 (23.5) 3.9 (44.4) 3.3 (35.8) 12.1 (51.9) Army -0.5 (12.0) -6.6 (29.2) -3.7 (10.7) -6.7 (21.4) 20.6 (41.0) -27.0 (33.0) -24.6 (45.7) USMC -1.5 (20.8) 0.17 (31.9) 2.3 (13.1) 4.2 (19.7) 11.5 (44.7) -14.2 (34.6) -11.5 (39.3) Navy -3.0 (11.3) -16.43 (26.4) 1.4 (11.2) -8.0 (13.7) 12.7 (33.1) -14 (29.6) -20.1 (32.3) Mean (SD) d/s = Degrees per Second, Ext = Extension, Fl = Flexion, Pk = Peak, Iso = Isometric, Con = Concentric, Ecc = Eccentric Note: “Difference” refers to the left-leg value subtracted from the right-leg.

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