The Interday Reliability of Leg and Ankle Musculotendinous Stiffness Measures

Two popular methods of assessing lower body musculotendinous stiffness include the hopping and oscillation tests. The disparity and paucity of reliability data prompted this investigation into leg musculotendinous stiffness (K leg) and ankle musculotendinous stiffness (K ank) measures. K leg and K ank were assessed on three separate occa-sions in 20 female subjects. K leg was determined using bilateral hopping procedures conducted at 2.2 Hz and 3.2 Hz frequencies. K ank was assessed by perturbation of the subject’s ankle musculotendinous unit on an instrumented calf raise apparatus at 70 % of maximum isometric force (MIF). Excellent reliability was produced for all K leg measures between all days, whereas K ank exhibited acceptable reliability after one session of familiarization. No relationship was evident between K leg and K ank. It was concluded that no familiarization session was required for K leg at the test frequencies and conditions tested, whereas at least one familiarization session was needed to ensure the reliable assessmen