Introduction: The effect that an increased torso-pelvic separation (x-factor) has on driving performance and accuracy is well appreciated by golfers and golf instructors. Increased torso and pelvic separation produces a greater upper trunk energy store to be utilised for a more powerful downswing. Specific muscles’ contribution towards pelvic stability during the golf swing has not been well documented. Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the effect that gluteus medius Kinesio® Taping has on torso-pelvic separation, subsequent ball flight distance and accuracy. Method: The study was a one group pre-test-post test quasi-experimental design. A group of amateur golfers underwent a biomechanical golf swing analysis with iClub™ Body Motion System to determine torso-pelvic separation at the top of the backswing. Ball flight distance and accuracy (smash factor ratio) were measured with the FlightScope®. These outcomes were recorded with and without Kinesio® Tape application on the gluteus medius muscle. Each participant’s dominant gluteus medius muscle strength was tested with a Microfet Hand-held Dynamometer before and after Kinesio® Tape application. The data gathered in the taped and non-taped groups was analysed using a paired t-test, when testing at the 0.05 level of significance. Correlation between gluteus medius and x-factor, ball flight distance and smash factor ratio with and without KT application, was done using Pearson Correlation analysis. Results: The results showed that Kinesio® Tape is effective in improving gluteus medius muscle activation and thereby the relative muscle strength (p=0.00<0.05). With regard to the other aforementioned outcome measures, x-factor, ball distance and accuracy, results showed no statistical significance (p=0.28, p=0.53 and p=0.1 respectively). Correlation analysis revealed a negative relationship between gluteus medius muscle strength and x-factor (r = -0.46, p = 0.01) and smash factor ratio (r = -0.33, p = 0.08) Discussion Kinesio® Tape has been shown to improve strength in target muscles. As the golf swing is so complex, involving the entire kinetic chain, each golfer differs significantly in his/her swing. This study showed that the gluteus medius strength improved with Kinesio® Tape application in the majority of the golfers tested, but affected each golfer’s shot differently. This highlights the fact that each golfer’s swing is unique and they utilise the kinetic chain differently. Conclusion: Kinesio® Tape is significantly effective in improving gluteus medius muscle activation and strength in amateur golfers. X-factor, ball distance and accuracy are dependent on a wide variety of body movements that act in harmony to produce the golf swing and a statistically significant result was not found regarding these outcome measures. It is thus difficult to isolate only one muscle in creating pelvic stability and only the pelvis in the motion of the golf swing.

1 v. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Physiology, 1993

Water extract of the leaves of Erlangla cordifolia (S. Moore) - compositae (commonly known in Gikuyuland as Gathuna) has been traditionally used by the Gikuyu people of Kenya for centuries for the purpose of stimulating myometrial contractions in the process of parturition. The use of this extract has been called for when the progress of the birth process has been judged to be unsatisfactorily slow. The introduction to this work (Chapter 1) therefore surveys this use of the plant material and proceeds on to show the validity of using Erlangia material for the study of the process of muscle contraction. The section also includes a short discussion on the validity of the use of what could be termed a pathological condition - that is, the obstetric 'lazy' uterus - for the purpose of studying a normal physiological process (muscle contraction) at the cellular and molecular levels. Chapter 2 explains the methods used to obtain the crude extract from Erlangia leaves andvalso a purified compound, cordifene, from the same source, that was found by the author of this work to have stimulatory activity on contracting muscle. The chapter also deals with the methods used to characterize cordifene chemically. Chapter 3 describes the physiological experiments carried out to confirm the stimulatory activity of Erlangia extract and also of cordifene on the smooth muscle of the myometrium and that of the intestinal wall, in addition to similar effects on skeletal muscle. These experiments therefore confirmed the fact that the activity of Erlangia material has a common biochemical basis for all types of muscle at the molecular level. Stimulation of muscle contraction can be brought about through biochemical effects on the nerve(s) supplying the muscle or through direct effects on biochemical mechanisms occurring within the muscle cell itself. Chapter 4 of this work is therefore concerned with an investigation into the possibility of a chemical compound or compounds from Erlangia leaves that may be capable of influencing biochemical processes within the peripheral autonomic nervous system, as this system is known to be intricately involved in muscle contraction. Acetylcholine metabolism is important not only for the autonomic nervous system's biochemical role in muscle contraction: it is also important for the biochemical processes that take place in nervous impulse transmissions in general - with all the consequences that this has on all muscles, both voluntary and involuntary. For this reason, a possible effect of Erlangia material on the cholinesterase enzymes has been searched for Chapter 5 is concerned with a series of investigations into the different biochemical processes that occur in the muscle cell during the contractile activity and the mode of action by which Erlangia material might be influencing such processes. Chapter 6 is a discussion based on the results of the investigations reported in the previous sections. Erlangia material was found to react with ADP forming a complex and, besides probably inducing increased myosin ATPase activity, it was also found to induce marked configurational changes within the actomyosin molecule.

Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only / School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science

The metabolic response to muscle unloading and disuse was studied in rats subjected for six days to tail-cast suspension which leads to non-weight bearing hindlimbs, while the forelimbs are utilized for mobility. Under these conditions the soleus muscle atrophied, growth of the gastrocnemius and plantaris muscles declined, and the extensor digitorum longus and tibialis anterior muscles grew normally. Differences in muscle weight and protein content were associated with slower protein synthesis, particularly in the sarcoplasmic fraction, and faster protein degradation. Atrophy was accentuated by the administration of glucocorticoids to adrenalectomized rats causing a further reduction in protein synthesis. The effects of disuse and glucocorticoids were additive. Amino acid metabolism is altered in disuse of the soleus muscle as demonstrated by higher concentrations of tyrosine and glutamate and lower concentrations of glutamine, aspartate and asparagine. The lower glutamine concentration is the result of slower de novo synthesis despite higher glutamine synthetase activity, the result of glucocorticoid action. Slower glutamine synthesis was due to a lack of free ammonia for its synthesis, probably due to slower flux through AMP deaminase as a result of decreased muscle use and ATP utilization. Alanine production by the atrophied soleus muscles was higher and glutamate and aspartate utilization lower than by muscles from weight bearing controls. Branched chain amino acid degradation is faster in both the soleus and extensor digitorum longus muscles of suspended rats; a difference partially mediated by glucocorticoids. The resistance of amino acid uptake to insulin in these muscles was abolished in adrenalectomy. Passive stretch of the non-weight bearing soleus muscle, by immobilization in dorsiflexion, prevented the metabolic changes associated with hindlimb suspension while plantar flexion had no effect on the atrophy. Muscles subjected to hypokinesia/hypodynamia demonstrated a loss of muscle protein due to slower protein synthesis and faster degradation. The increased availability of free amino acids from protein coupled to differences in hormone responsiveness and slower utilization of energy stores results in a substantial shift in the metabolic equilibrium of the muscle cell, particularly with regard to amino acid interconversions.

by Cai Dong Qing. / "January 2001." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001 / Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-190). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

The mechanisms by which hormones and metabolites control muscle proteolysis remain unclear. The redox state of muscle has been investigated as a possible mediator of these effects. In diaphragms of traumatized and starved animals, faster proteolysis correlated with a more oxidized NAD(P) redox couple. In diaphragm, leucine lowered proteolysis and increased lactate/pyruvate ratios. The soleus and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles from young growing rats had faster proteolysis and lower lactate/pyruvate ratios than of older rats. The lower proteolysis and high lactate/pyruvate ratios in larger muscles from older rats are not due to experimental oxygen diffusion limitations, but are probably inherent characteristics of the muscles themselves. Proteolysis, and medium and incubated tissue lactate/pyruvate ratios gave significant multiple correlations with the soleus (R = 0.939) and EDL (R = 0.973) weights. Up to four days of streptozotocin diabetes, the lactate/pyruvate ratios were lower and proteolysis was faster in soleus and EDL muscles compared to weight matched controls. Conversely, after six to 12 days, proteolysis was lower and lactate/pyruvate ratios were higher. In EDL of young fasted rats accelerated proteolysis was associated with lower lactate/pyruvate ratios. In older rats, proteolysis increased and lactate/pyruvate ratios decreased during short-term fasting. The reverse was true following long-term fasting, indicating a "protein-sparing" effect. In contrast, the soleus showed little change in redox state and proteolysis during starvation. Concentrations of reduced, oxidized and protein-bound glutathione were measured in normal, diabetic and fasting rats to determine whether the glutathione redox couple responded similarly to the NAD(P) redox couple. In muscles from fasted and diabetic rats decreases in reduced glutathione content lowered the reduced/oxidized glutathione ratio. The relationship between proteolysis and the glutathione redox state, however, was not strong. Likewise, incubations with insulin of leg muscles of fed, fasted, and diabetic muscles, decreased proteolysis but affected little the NAD and glutathione redox couples. Generally, in muscle accelerated proteolysis was associated with an oxidation of the NAD(P) redox couple and vice versa. These data suggest that, in muscle, the redox state may be important in the regulation of proteolysis.

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Twenty active male volunteers were studied to compare maximum oxygen consumption (˙V02 max) to the oxidative capacity of a muscle homogenate (˙Q02) and to determine how fiber type relates to these measures of aerobic power. Maximum oxygen consumption was determined by bicycle ergometry. Correlations of 0.81 and 0.75 were found between ˙V02 max and ˙Q02and ˙V02 max and %ST, respectively (p<.01). A significant relationship (r=0.74) was also found between ˙Q02 and %ST. Multiple correlation analysis (R=0.85) indicated that 72% (R2=0.72) of the variance in ˙V02 max could be accounted for by the combined effect of ˙Q02 and fiber type. These data therefore indicate that Q02 and fiber type play a large role in determining maximum aerobic power but these factors cannot completely account for the total variance in ˙V02max.

There is no abstract available for this thesis. / School of Physical Education