title: The acute effect of the tongue position in the mouth on knee isokinetic test performance: a highly surprising pilot study.
abstract: The tongue involvement within the isokinetic knee extension/flexion exercises has been investigated. Eighteen participants randomly underwent isokinetic testing at 90 and 180°/s with three different tongue positions: middle position (MID, thrusting on the lingual surface of incisive teeth), lying on the lower arch of the mouth (LOW) and extended up to the palatine spot (UP). Statistical analysis of the data revealed an about 30% significant increase of knee flexion peak torque in UP with respect to MID at both angular speeds. Such a difference could have had a confounding effect on results from numerous past studies using isokinetic knee flexion testing. This study alerts future researchers about standardization of tongue position and warrants further investigations on the explicative processes of this phenomenon.
authors.affiliation: Italian Society of Posture and Gait Research, Caserta, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: di Vico
authors.affiliation: School of Exercise and Sport Science, University of Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca Paolo
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Ardigò
authors.affiliation: Italian Society of Posture and Gait Research, Caserta, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Salernitano
authors.affiliation: Athlete Health and Performance Research Centre, ASPETAR, Qatar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar. Tunisian Research Laboratory "Sports Performance Optimization" National Center of Medicine and Science in Sport, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Karim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chamari
authors.affiliation: Italian Society of Posture and Gait Research, Caserta, Italy; Tunisian Research Laboratory 'Sports Performance Optimization', National Center of Medicine and Science in Sport, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Johnny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Padulo
keywords: CNS path; isokinetic test; knee flexion; maximum peak torque; tongue position