EMG activity and kinematics of cycling movements at different pedal shaft widths

The purpose of this study was to quantify the EMG activity of selected lower limb muscles during cycling, and to define the relationship between pedal shaft width and muscular involvement. This study has particular significance to the female cyclist who by virtue of pelvic width may have a less efficient pedalling force, or an imbalance of applied muscular force. Variables analyzed were hip, knee, ankle range of motion (ROM), biceps femoris(BF), vastus lateralis(VL), rectus femoris(RF), and vastus medialis(VMO) muscle activity. Significant differences among three different pedal shaft widths were determined through use of repeated measures oneway ANOVA, Newman-Keuls post hoc test. The hip ROM, biceps femoris, and vastus medialis EKG activity results of the present study appeared to indicate that different pedal shaft widths had an effect on changes in the ROM and EMG activity. This study indicated that the hip ROM values increased with an increase in the pedal shaft width. In contary, an increase in pedal shaft width significantly decreased the muscle activity in the vastus medialis while two inch pedal shaft width significantly decreased the muscle activity in the biceps femoris.School of Physical EducationThesis (M.S.