title: Corticospinal excitability of the ankle extensor muscles is enhanced in ballet dancers.
abstract: We tested the corticospinal excitability of the soleus muscle in ballet dancers to clarify whether the presumed long-term repetition of the specific plantarflexion results in changes of excitability in this neural pathway. We compared motor evoked potentials of the soleus muscle at rest and during isometric contraction of the plantar flexors in dancers and non-dancers. The amplitudes of motor evoked potentials elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation during contraction were examined against the background electromyographic activity. A regression line was calculated for each subject. Results showed that the slope of the regression line is significantly greater in the dancer group than in the control group, suggesting that the corticospinal tract of ballet dancers has adapted to long-term repetition of plantarflexion in daily ballet training.
authors.affiliation: The Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences, Ochanomizu University,2-1-1 Otsuka Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8610, Japan. Tel/fax +81-3-5978-5272. g0670210@edu.cc.ocha.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Sakiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Obata
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Endoh
authors.forename: Mayumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuno-Mizumura
authors.forename: Kimitaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakazawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000842:Ankle / Q000502:physiology; D000843:Ankle Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D003615:Dancing / Q000502:physiology*; D004576:Electromyography / Q000379:methods; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D005082:Physical Exertion / Q000502:physiology*; D011999:Recruitment, Neurophysiological; D012044:Regression Analysis; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D055815:Young Adult