Ernst Albin Hansen

Ernst Albin Hansen
University College Absalon · Physiotherapy

MS, PhD, DSc

About

102
Publications
55,624
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2,456
Citations
Additional affiliations
February 2010 - July 2015
Aalborg University
Position
  • Professor (Associate)

Publications

Publications (102)
Article
Full-text available
Purpose This study aimed to investigate physiological responses, muscle–tendon unit properties of the quadriceps muscle, and mechanical performance after repeated sprint cycling at optimal and 70% of optimal cadence. Methods Twenty recreational cyclists performed as first sprint performance cycling test and during subsequent sessions two repeated...
Article
Full-text available
The aim of the present investigation was twofold. (1) to assess test–retest reliability of normalized mutual information (NMI) values extracted from the surface electromyography (sEMG) signal of muscles pairs of the upper body during dynamic bench press at a high load, and (2) to assess changes in NMI values from before to after a five‐week quasi‐r...
Article
Background The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on the level of physical activity among older citizens. Objective The aim of this short paper is to set focus on the potential benefits of assistive walking devices for older citizens. Methods In this feasibility study, 24 older citizens aged >65 years participated in the study. The parti...
Article
Full-text available
Introduction Cycling is a time-consuming sport. Cyclists, as many other athletes, therefore, focus on training effectively. The hypothesis was tested that twelve weeks of supplementary maximal acceleration training caused more favourable changes in cycling performance indicators as compared to changes measured in comparable control cyclists. Metho...
Article
Kristiansen, M, Sydow Krogh Pedersen, AM , Sandvej, G, Jørgensen, P, Jakobsen, JV, de Zee, M, Hansen, EA, and Klitgaard, KK. Enhanced maximal upper-body strength increases performance in sprint kayaking. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2022-The association between upper-body strength and performance in 200-m flat-water sprint kayak is not fully...
Article
It was investigated whether the phenomenon of repeated bout rate enhancement occurs during submaximal ergometer cycling. Repeated bout rate enhancement is defined as an increase of the freely, or spontaneously, chosen cadence during repeated bouts of pedalling and has previously been reported for finger tapping. This is relevant to study since cade...
Article
Full-text available
Moderate paddling, as in long distance kayaking, constitutes an endurance activity, which shares energetic aspects with activities such as long distance running and road cycling. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether in moderate paddling there is a U-shaped relationship between oxygen uptake and stroke rate, and also whether elite...
Article
Full-text available
Background: To test the hypothesis that a 20-s bout of unilateral index finger tapping, followed by 10 min rest, increases the freely chosen tapping rate performed by the contralateral index finger, in a second 20-s bout. Methods: Twenty healthy adults performed tapping with the index finger on one hand followed by a 10 min rest period and tapping...
Article
Full-text available
Highlights: Voluntary, rhythmic, stereotyped, automated motor activities are basic to humans Participants did initial submaximal tapping at low and high target tapping rates Subsequently, they tapped at a freely chosen rate The freely chosen rate was relatively low following the initial low tapping rate The freely chosen tapping rate was found to...
Article
Full-text available
Background: It was recently reported that the freely chosen cadence at the end of a bout of pedalling depended on relatively high and low preset cadences applied at the beginning of the bout. This was denoted as a phenomenon of motor behavioural history dependence. Objective: The present study aimed at expanding that recent finding by testing wheth...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose History dependence can refer to the fact that parts of the human physiology (e.g., one or a group of muscles, or the nervous system) as well as functional aspects of the human (e.g., motor behaviour, or performance) depend on prior muscle activation. In the present study, it was investigated whether initial cycling at relatively low and hig...
Article
Investigations of behavior and control of voluntary stereotyped rhythmic movement contribute to the enhancement of motor function and performance of disabled, sick, injured, healthy, and exercising humans. The present article presents examples of unprompted alteration of freely chosen movement rate during voluntary stereotyped rhythmic movements. T...
Article
Background The walk-to-run transition, which occurs during gradually increasing locomotion speed, has been addressed in research at least eight decades back. Research question Why does the walk-to-run transition occur? In the present review, we focus on the reason for the transition, more than on the consequences of it. The latter has historically...
Article
This randomised controlled field study aimed to design a female-specific cycling pad with reduced padding in the crotch area (half-pad) and test its effects on self-reported sensory manifestations in comparison with full-padded cycling bib shorts. Recreational female road cyclists (n = 183) participated (divided into two groups). Self-reported sens...
Article
Full-text available
The present study investigated whether the duration of the first tapping bout, which could also be considered ‘the priming’, would play a role for the occurrence of the behavioral phenomenon termed repeated bout rate enhancement. Eighty-eight healthy individuals were recruited. Sixty-three of these demonstrated repeated bout rate enhancement and th...
Article
Full-text available
In this study we investigated motor variability in individuals who showed (responders) and who did not show (non-responders) a behavioural phenomenon termed repeated bout rate enhancement. The phenomenon is characterized by an increase of the freely chosen index finger tapping rate during the second of two consecutive tapping bouts. It was hypothes...
Article
This study had two main aims: 1) to investigate if the walk-to-run (WR-) transition occurs when the speed of locomotion is kept constant below the WR-transition speed (speed clamp) and the stride rate is increased monotonously using a metronome and 2) to investigate if diversion of attention and awareness from the locomotion process influences the...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Knowledge on the behaviour and control of human voluntary stereotyped rhythmic movement has relevance for sick, injured, and healthy individuals. In the present study, unilateral finger tapping was applied as a model of such a type of movement. We studied the phenomenon of repeated bout rate enhancement, which covers an increase of the freely chose...
Article
These hypotheses were tested: (1) Freely chosen frequency in unilateral index finger tapping is correlated between the two index fingers, and (2) A 3-min bout of unilateral index finger tapping followed by 10 min rest results in an increase of the freely chosen tapping frequency performed by the contralateral index finger in a second bout. Thirty-t...
Article
The transition from walking to running has previously been predicted to occur at a point where the stride frequency starts getting closer to the running attractor than to the walking attractor. The two behavioural attractors were considered to be represented by the freely chosen stride frequencies during unrestricted treadmill walking and running....
Presentation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF6SrW2x1Iw
Article
Full-text available
Voluntary rhythmic movements, such as, for example, locomotion and other cyclic tasks, are fundamental during everyday life. Patients with impaired neural or motor function often take part in rehabilitation programs, which include rhythmic movements. Therefore, it is imperative to have the best possible understanding of control and behaviour of hum...
Article
Kristiansen, M, Samani, A, Vuillerme, N, Madeleine, P, and Hansen, EA. External and internal focus of attention increases muscular activation during bench press in resistance-trained participants. J Strength Cond Res 32(9): 2442-2451, 2018-Research on the effects of instructed attentional focus during execution of strength training exercises is lim...
Poster
Full-text available
The purpose of the present study was to test whether muscle activation increases during the phenomenon of repeated bout rate enhancement. The present study showed that muscle activation of EDC did not change at an increased tapping rate during repeated bout rate enhancement where the rate is freely chosen. For comparison, the present study confirme...
Poster
Full-text available
The purpose of the study was to investigate whether sensory feedback, caused by passive finger tapping, would be sufficient to elicit repeated bout rate enhancement. The elicitation of repeated bout rate enhancement in Session B constituted a novel finding. The results from Session B are interpreted to support a working hypothesis suggesting that...
Article
Full-text available
A priority in strength and power exercise might be to train with as high quality as possible for the shortest possible duration. In this context, peak power output could reflect quality. Designing an exercise session as a cluster set structure, as compared to a traditional set structure, may be a way to obtain higher peak power output in the sessio...
Article
The objectives were 1) to design and produce two novel unpadded bicycle saddles with a wide/medium width and partial nose cutout; 2) to investigate the responses on pressure distribution and perceived discomfort in female cyclists. For comparison, a standard saddle was also tested. Nineteen female cyclists pedaled on an ergometer cycle for 20 min w...
Article
Full-text available
In this study, we hypothesized that the recordings of multi-channel mechanomyography (MMG) of the upper trapezius muscle would reveal spatially-dependent manifestations in presence of delayed onset muscle soreness occurring 24-h after eccentric exercise (ECC). Sixteen participants performed high intensity eccentric exercises (5 sets of 10 eccentric...
Article
Full-text available
The present study tested 1) whether a recently reported phenomenon of repeated bout rate enhancement in finger tapping (i.e. a cumulating increase in freely chosen finger tapping frequency following submaximal muscle activation in form of externally unloaded voluntary tapping) could be replicated, and 2) the hypotheses that the faster tapping was a...
Article
Full-text available
Idrætsstuderende ved Aalborg Universitet bruger hvert semester mindst halvdelen af studietiden på at gennemføre et studieprojekt, der følger principperne for Aalborgmodellen for problembaseret læring (PBL). I nogle tilfælde lykkes det de studerende i samarbejde med deres vejleder at gennemføre et mindre forskningsprojekt, som giver videnskabelig me...
Article
Full-text available
It remains unclear why humans spontaneously shift from walking to running at a certain point during locomotion at gradually increasing velocity. We show that a calculated walk-to-run transition stride frequency (70.6 ± 3.2 strides min⁻¹) agrees with a transition stride frequency (70.8 ± 3.1 strides min⁻¹) predicted from the two stride frequencies a...
Article
Full-text available
The present article reviews effects of training at low imposed cadences in cycling. We performed a systematic literature search of MEDLINE and SPORTDiscus up to April 2016 to identify potentially relevant articles. Based on the titles and abstracts of the identified articles, a subset of articles was selected for evaluation. These articles constitu...
Article
The aim of this study was to measure and analyse discomfort and biomechanics of cycling, i.e., muscle activation, centre of pressure of seat pressure profiles and pedal forces as a function of seat position. Twenty-one recreationally active individuals cycled for 10 min at 100Won an ergometer cycle using five different seat positions. The neutral p...
Article
Full-text available
Understanding of behavior and control of human voluntary rhythmic stereotyped leg movements is useful in work to improve performance, function, and rehabilitation of exercising, healthy, and injured humans. The present study aimed at adding to the existing understanding within this field. To pursue the aim, correlations between freely chosen moveme...
Article
Full-text available
The ability to perform forceful muscle contractions has important implications in sports performance and in activities of daily living. However, there is a lack of knowledge on adaptations in inter-muscular coordination following strength training. The purpose of the present study was therefore to assess muscle synergies before and after five weeks...
Article
Full-text available
The authors investigated the effects of 2 weeks of heavy index finger strength training on characteristics of freely chosen finger tapping including tapping frequency, tap force, and finger displacement. One group (n = 12) performed index finger extension and flexion strength training. A control group (n = 12) performed no intervention. Results sho...
Article
Full-text available
Healthy individuals (n = 40) performed index finger tapping at freely chosen frequency during repeated bouts and before and after near-maximal muscle action consisting of 3 intense flexions of the index finger metacarpal phalangeal joint. One experiment showed, unexpectedly, that a bout of tapping increased the tapping frequency in the subsequent b...
Thesis
Acta Physiol, Volume 214, Issue Supplement S702, pages 1–18 The thesis can be downloaded from the Acta Physiol homepage Summary: The overall purpose of the present dissertation was to contribute to the understanding of voluntary human rhythmic leg movement behaviour and control. This was achieved by applying pedalling as a movement model and expo...
Article
Full-text available
Despite biomechanical differences between walking, running, and cycling, these types of movement are supposedly generated by shared neural networks. According to this hypothesis, we investigated relationships between movement frequencies in these tasks as well as effects of strength training on locomotion behaviour. The movement frequencies during...
Article
The aim of this study was to investigate the between-day reliability of the trapezius muscle H-reflex and M-wave. Sixteen healthy subjects were studied on 2 consecutive days. Trapezius muscle H-reflexes were evoked by electrical stimulation of the C3/4 cervical nerves; M-waves were evoked by electrical stimulation of the accessory nerve. Relative r...
Article
In this study, we applied multi-channel mechanomyographic (MMG) recordings in combination with linear and nonlinear analyses to investigate muscular and musculotendinous effects of high intensity eccentric exercise. Twelve accelerometers arranged in a 3×4 matrix over the dominant elbow muscles were used to detect MMG activity in 12 healthy particip...
Article
Full-text available
It was tested whether a marathon was completed faster by applying a scientifically based rather than a freely chosen nutritional strategy. Furthermore, gastrointestinal symptoms were evaluated. Non-elite runners performed a 10 km time trial seven weeks before Copenhagen Marathon 2013 for estimation of running ability. Based on the time, runners wer...
Article
Full-text available
Trapezius muscle H reflexes were obtained to investigate the neural adaptations induced by a 5-week strength training regimen, based solely on eccentric contractions of the shoulder muscles. Twenty nine healthy subjects were randomized into an eccentric training group (n = 15) and a reference group (n = 14). The eccentric training program consisted...
Article
Full-text available
In the present study we investigated changes in voluntary rhythmic leg movement frequency (freely chosen cycling cadence) and rhythmic movement pattern (tangential pedal force profile) after fatiguing hip flexion and hip extension exercises. Nine healthy individuals performed ergometer cycling at freely chosen cadence and at a cadence of 1 Hz befor...
Chapter
The H-reflex is often used in the clinic as a tool to test for cervical radiculopathy or other neurologic disorders. Additionally, it is often used experimentally to investigate neural changes at a segmental level following an intervention (e.g. strength training) (1). Methods for recording H-reflexes in the soleus and tibialis anterior muscles hav...
Article
The purpose of the study was to elucidate the role of expertise on muscle synergies involved in bench press. Ten expert power lifters (EXP) and nine untrained participants (UNT) completed three sets of eight repetitions at 60% of three repetition maximum in bench press. Muscle synergies were extracted from surface electromyography data of 21 bench...
Article
The purpose of this study was to investigate adaptation mechanisms following two test rounds consisting of eccentric exercise using pressure pain imaging of the wrist extensors. Pressure pain thresholds (PPT) were assessed over 12 points forming a 3×4 matrix over the dominant elbow in 12 participants. From the PPT assessments, pressure pain maps we...
Article
Full-text available
The authors tested whether heavy strength training, including hip-flexion exercise, would reduce the extent of the phase in the crank revolution where negative or retarding crank torque occurs. Negative torque normally occurs in the upstroke phase when the leg is lifted by flexing the hip. Eighteen well-trained cyclists either performed 12 wk of he...
Article
The effects of strength training on freely chosen cadence and physiological responses in cyclists and recreationally active individuals were investigated. Well-trained cyclists were assigned to either usual endurance training combined with strength training (C-ES; n = 11) or usual endurance training only (C-E; n = 9). Recreationally active individu...
Article
Full-text available
The purpose of the present study was to compare the effect of 12 weeks of strength training combined with a large volume of endurance training with the effect of strength training alone on the strength training adaptations. Well-trained cyclists with no strength training experience performed heavy strength training twice a week in addition to a hig...
Article
Full-text available
We investigated the effects of strength maintenance training on thigh muscle cross-sectional area (CSA), leg strength, determinants of cycling performance, and cycling performance. Well-trained cyclists completed either (1) usual endurance training supplemented with heavy strength training twice a week during a 12-week preparatory period followed b...
Article
Full-text available
We investigated the hypothesis that longer and shorter poles would be faster and slower, respectively, than poles of self-selected length in all-out double poling. Eight elite cross-country skiers performed 80m all-out double poling on snow performed from a standing start. Three trials with each of the pole lengths: self-selected, 7.5cm shorter, an...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The paper investigates the possibility of improving the efficiency of force transmission for the individual cyclist. Musculoskeletal modelling using commercial software (AnyBody) is utilised to assess variations in the bicycle configuration. Rider-specific data were collected to enable an assessment of seat position, cadence, crank arm length, and...
Article
The paper investigates the possibility of improving the efficiency of force transmission for the individual cyclist. Musculoskeletal modelling using commercial software (AnyBody) is utilised to assess variations in the bicycle configuration. Rider-specific data were collected to enable an assessment of seat position, cadence, crank arm length, and...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose The aim of the present study is to examine the association between physical activity and perceived job demand, job control, perceived stress and energy, and physiological arousal reflected by morning and evening concentrations of cortisol in saliva among white-collar workers. Methods Physical activity during the last week was assessed durin...
Article
Full-text available
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of heavy strength training on thigh muscle cross-sectional area (CSA), determinants of cycling performance, and cycling performance in well-trained cyclists. Twenty well-trained cyclists were assigned to either usual endurance training combined with heavy strength training [E + S; n = 11 (male...
Article
To investigate the effects of heavy strength training on the mean power output in a 5-min all-out trial following 185 min of submaximal cycling at 44% of maximal aerobic power output in well-trained cyclists. Twenty well-trained cyclists were assigned to either usual endurance training combined with heavy strength training [E+S; n=11 (♂=11)] or to...
Article
Full-text available
The development of noncircular chain wheels for the enhancement of cycling performance has been in progress for a long time and continues apace. In this study we tested whether submaximal cycling using a non-circular (Biopace) versus a circular chain wheel resulted in lower peak crank torque at preset pedal rates as well as resulting in lower pedal...
Article
This study investigated effects of physical exercise on musculoskeletal pain symptoms in all regions of the body, as well as on other musculoskeletal pain in association with neck pain. A single blind randomized controlled trial testing a one-year exercise intervention was performed among 549 office workers; specific neck/shoulder resistance traini...
Article
To investigate the effect of two contrasting physical activity worksite interventions versus a reference intervention (REF) on various health outcomes. A 1-year randomized controlled trial was conducted with specific resistance training (SRT), all-round physical exercise (APE), and REF. SRT and APE compared with REF showed significant reductions in...
Article
Energy expenditure and comfort for Nordic walking with self-selected and 7.5-cm shorter poles and ordinary walking were measured during uphill (12 degrees ), downhill (12 degrees ), and horizontally. Twelve (11 women and 1 man) Nordic walking practitioners participated (mean +/- SEM: 171.5 +/- 1.5 cm, 67.0 +/- 2.7 kg, 50.6 +/- 2.4 years, and maxima...
Article
Full-text available
Cadence choice during cycling has been of considerable interest among cyclists, coaches, and researchers for nearly 100 years. The present review examines and summarizes the current knowledge of factors affecting the freely chosen cadence during submaximal cycling and of the influence of cadence choice on performance. In addition, suggestions for f...
Article
Full-text available
It is not known whether the seated or standing position favours performance during intensive bouts of uphill cycling. The following hypotheses were therefore tested: (1) the standing position results in better performance at a high power output, while (2) the seated position is best at a moderate power output. We also assessed the seated-standing t...
Article
The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of three different workplace interventions on long-term compliance, muscle strength gains, and neck/shoulder pain in office workers. A 1-yr randomized controlled intervention trial was done with three groups: specific resistance training (SRT, n = 180), all-round physical exercise (APE, n = 1...
Article
Full-text available
Freely chosen pedalling rate during cycling represents a voluntary rhythmic movement. It is unclear to what extent this is influenced by internal (e.g. loading on the cardiopulmonary system) and external (e.g. mechanical loading) conditions. It is also unclear just how robust a voluntary motor rhythm, the freely chosen pedalling rate, actually is....