Abstract

Objective: To determinate the onset latency of the hip and knee muscles in participants with iliotibial band (ITB) tightness. Material and methods: A case-control study. Twelve male participants whit ITB tightness and 12 male participants without ITB tightness performed a sudden lower limbs perturbation in anterior, posterior, ipsolateral and contralateral direction. The electromyographic onset latencies of the medial vastus (VM), vastus lateralis (VL), tensor fascia lata (TFL) and gluteus maximus (GM) were measured during this test. The statistical analysis was performed with t-student test. Significance level was established a priori at . P<.05. Results: A significant increase of the VM (P=.0001), VL (P=.0163), GM (P=.0036) and TFL (P<.0001) latency was observed in participants with ITB tightness during a sudden anterior perturbation. In a posterior perturbation, a significant increase in the GM (P=.0001) and TFL (P<.0001) latency was observed in participants with ITB tightness. A significant increase of the TFL (P<.0001) latency was observed in participants with ITB tightness during a contralateral limb evaluated perturbation. Conclusions: Individuals with ITB tightness present a delay of knee and hip muscles latencies, mainly the TFL muscle.