Takashi Abe’s research while affiliated with Juntendo University and other places
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Objective
Whether or not an athlete plays with sports equipment in their hands may influence handgrip strength (HGS) changes during development, but longitudinal studies have not confirmed this. This study compared one‐year HGS changes between two sports types (soccer vs. kendo) in children and adolescent athletes.
Methods
One hundred sixty‐eight young athletes (86 kendo boys and 82 soccer boys) had two HGS measurements separated by 1 year. A 2 (sports) by 2 (timepoints 1 and 2) repeated measures ANOVA was used to determine whether HGS changed differently between sports.
Results
There was no evidence for a sport × time interaction in HGS ( p = 0.14); however, the mean difference and 95% CI were in the direction of favoring a greater change in kendo athletes [difference of 0.6 (95% CI: −0.2, 1.5) kg]. There was a main effect of time and sport. Kendo athletes had a 4.6 (95% CI: 1.8, 7.5) kg greater HGS than soccer athletes. There was no evidence that the change in HGS between sports depended on the initial age of the athlete ( p = 0.205).
Conclusion
Using sports equipment during play may positively affect HGS.
Objectives
Males, on average, are bigger and stronger than females. Hormonal differences during puberty are one reason given for this performance advantage. However, not all evidence supports that thesis. Our aim was to further this discussion by measuring early life changes between sexes (when hormones would be similar) in components of muscle function.
Methods
Fifty‐one children (29 boys, 22 girls) completed this study. Forearm muscle size and strength were assessed three times with each time point being separated by approximately a year (2021–2023).
Results
There was no sex*time interaction for handgrip strength ( p = 0.637). There was, however, a time ( p < 0.001) and sex ( p < 0.001) effect. Strength increased each year and boys were stronger than girls (difference of 1.5 [95% 0.7, 2.3] kg). There was no sex*time interaction for ulnar muscle thickness ( p = 0.714) but there was a time ( p < 0.001) effect. Muscle size increased each year but there was no evidence of a sex effect ( p = 0.12; difference of 0.81 [95% −0.21, 1.8] mm). A strong positive within‐participant correlation between muscle size and strength ( r = 0.803 95% CI: [0.72, 0.86], p < 0.0001) was found across time.
Conclusion
Muscle size and strength increased together but this increase did not differ based on sex and boys were stronger than girls. Future work is needed to determine the reason for this difference in maximal strength. Any effect was seemingly present at the initial measurement (at the age of 4 years), since muscle size and strength did not change differently between boys and girls over time.
Objective
This study aimed to compare the current handgrip strength (HGS) of Kendo athletes with their HGS when they were in university (up to 50 years).
Methods
Eighty male graduates who were Kendo club members during their university days performed anthropometric and HGS measurements, and these HGS were compared with those measured during their university days (mean age of 19.5 years old).
Results
There was no evidence of a statistical difference in HGS between the current measurement and the measurement taken during university [−0.64 (−1.9, 0.67) kg, p = .336]. There was, however, evidence that the difference in HGS depended upon the current age of the individual ( t = −6.43, p < .001). When probing the interaction, there were statistical differences between the ages of 24.6 and 38.2 years and between the ages of 47.4 and 69.9 years. Strength increased across time in the younger participants and decreased for those who were older. Between the ages of 38.9 and 46.1 years, there was no evidence of a statistical difference indicating a maintenance of strength.
Conclusion
The HGS of Kendo club graduates, which they acquired during their formative years, continued to increase even after they graduated from university and entered their 30s. However, their HGS decreased from age 50, even though they practiced Kendo.
Editorial Impact of sports type on handgrip strength and morbidity/mortality Physical activity can be planned (e.g., sports) or unplanned, but the lack of activity is associated with premature mortality. 1 It is estimated to be a principal cause of ischaemic heart disease, diabetes, and breast/colon cancer. 1 However, different types of sports may have different effects on healthspan and possibly lifespan. For example, Oja and colleagues (2017) investigated the associations of specific types of sports and exercise with all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality in a large pooled British-based (80,306 individuals, 54% women, mean age 52 years old) cohort. 2 The authors found significant reductions in all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality for those who participated in swimming, racquet sports (badminton, tennis, squash), and aerobics (i.e. aerobics, gymnastics, dance for fitness) compared to those not participating in any activity. In contrast, no significant associations were found for participation in football and running. Schnohr and colleagues (2018) also investigated the differential improvements in life expectancy associated with participation in various sports among adults (8,577 participants) in Copenhagen. 3 They reported that multivariate-adjusted gains in life expectancy compared to the sedentary group were 9.7 years for tennis and 6.2 years for badminton, while soccer and jogging were 4.7 and 3.2 years, respectively. Furthermore, a Japanese researcher investigated the lifespan of Japanese male athletes and reported that kendo, tennis/table tennis, and rowing were listed to have longer lifespans. 4 Collectively, these aforementioned results suggest that various sports are associated with different impacts on health and longevity. The sports can be divided into those that use the "upper + lower body" simultaneously and sports that primarily use the "lower body" depending on the muscle activity in the upper and lower limbs during the sport. From this perspective, sports involving the upper + lower body may impact mortality and life expectancy differently than sports involving the lower body alone. Ample evidence suggests an inverse association between handgrip strength and morbidity and mortality. 5-7 Most of these studies measured handgrip strength in middle-aged and older adults (several studies targeted adolescents) and investigated the associations between handgrip strength and morbidity and mortality in follow-up surveys. However, handgrip strength, determined in early adulthood, may change only with age-related decline or when injury/disease occurs. 8,9 Thus, the handgrip strength acquired during the developmental period until adulthood is thought to be of great importance. Recent studies revealed that the type of sport played, i.e., whether or not an athlete played with sports equipment in their hands (i.e., "upper + lower body" sports or "lower body" sports), might influence the development of handgrip strength during the period of growth. 10 These "upper + lower body" sports may contribute to higher handgrip strength in early adulthood. 11,12 On the other hand, sports impact more than just handgrip strength and that may confound possible relationships. For example, muscle activity itself is associated with numerous signaling pathways. It is presently unclear how different types of sports (i.e., upper + lower body vs. lower body) impact future risk for morbidity and mortality. Solving this research question would allow for a greater understanding of how sports (upper + lower body and lower body-centric) impact both healthspan and lifespan. This would also help clarify the direction and meaning of the association. That is, does poor handgrip strength lead to poor health or does poor health lead to poor handgrip strength. Research on the association between changes in handgrip strength and risk factors for lifestyle-related diseases in children and adolescents seems essential to clarify the mechanisms of the inverse association between handgrip strength and morbidity/mor-tality. A follow-up study reported inverse associations between baseline handgrip strength and changes in inflammation markers in older women and speculated that inflammation markers partly explained the association between handgrip strength and mortality. 13 In addition, a systematic review and meta-analysis reported that higher levels of circulating inflammatory markers are significantly associated with lower muscle strength, including handgrip strength in adults (≥18 years). 14 Therefore, an inverse association exists in adults between handgrip strength and inflammatory markers, which may affect lifestyle-associated morbidity and mortality However, whether the above association is similarly observed during developmental periods when handgrip strength changes still needs to be better understood. Additionally, it is important to understand the influence of participation in different types of sports on this relationship. Future studies are expected to elucidate further the contribution of sports during the
Objective
Handgrip strength may differ depending on the type of sport played during the developmental period. Youth sports in which athletes hold equipment in their hands may be the most effective for improving handgrip strength. This study aimed to examine the age at which differences in handgrip strength appear by comparing sports that involve gripping (kendo) with those that do not involve gripping (soccer) in young athletes.
Methods
Two hundred and twenty‐two male athletes (115 kendo and 107 soccer) between 6 and 15 years old participated in this study. Handgrip strength was measured using a dynamometer, and the average value of both hands was used for analysis. Sports experience was determined when they started practicing each sport. Handgrip strength was compared between sports. Statistical moderation was used to determine if the relationship between sport and handgrip strength depended upon the age of the athlete.
Results
Kendo athletes had significantly higher handgrip strength than soccer athletes (4.77 kg [95% CI: 2.34, 7.19]) in the overall sample. We found that the relationship between sport and handgrip strength depended upon the age of the child (sport*age t = −3.6, p = .004). Using the Johnson‐Neyman procedure, we found statistically significant differences between sports from 8.48 years and older.
Conclusions
Our results suggest that the type of sport played, that is, whether or not an athlete plays with sports equipment in their hands, may influence the development of handgrip strength during the period of growth, and these sports may contribute to a higher level of handgrip strength in adulthood.
Objectives:
(1) To examine the muscle thickness of various muscle groups of the body to estimate the absolute and relative skeletal muscle mass (SM) in competitive physique-based athletes (Bodybuilding, 212 Bodybuilding, Bikini, and Physique divisions) and (2) to compare values across various divisions of competition and to resistance trained and non-resistance trained individuals.
Methods:
Eight competitive physique-based athletes (2 M and 6 F), two recreationally resistance trained (1 M and 1 F) and two non-resistance trained (1 M and 1 F) participants had muscle thickness measured by ultrasound at nine sites on the anterior and posterior aspects of the body. SM was estimated from an ultrasound-derived prediction equation and SM index was used to adjust for the influence of standing height (i.e., divided by height squared).
Results:
SM values ranged from 19.6 to 60.4 kg in the eight competitive physique-based athletes and 16.1 to 32.6 kg in the four recreationally resistance trained and non-resistance trained participants. SM index ranged from 7.2 to 17.9 kg/m2 in the eight competitive physique-based athletes and 5.8 to 9.3 kg/m2 in the four recreationally resistance trained and non-resistance trained participants.
Conclusion:
Overall, varying magnitudes of SM and SM index were present across competitors and their respective divisions of bodybuilding. The Men's Open Bodybuilder in the present study had greater values of total SM and SM index compared to previously published values in the literature. Our data provides insight into the extent of SM present in this population and further extends the discussion regarding SM accumulation in humans.
... However, handgrip strength, determined in early adulthood, may change only with age-related decline or when injury/disease occurs. 8,9 Thus, the handgrip strength acquired during the developmental period until adulthood is thought to be of great importance. Recent studies revealed that the type of sport played, i.e., whether or not an athlete played with sports equipment in their hands (i.e., "upper + lower body" sports or "lower body" sports), might influence the development of handgrip strength during the period of growth. ...
... De la misma forma el Taekwondo la biomecánica muscular se basa en movimientos explosivos del tren superior por lo que la fuerza manual suele ser alta (Chaabène et al. 2012). Las diferencias en la fuerza prensil entre diferentes disciplinas deportivas fueron señaladas por Abe et al. (2024). Siendo las diferencias en los programas de entrenamiento clave para el aumento de la fuerza en los diferentes deportes. ...
... In resistance-trained individuals, sometimes there are no changes in muscle size reported (6 weeks in Kataoka et al. [13] and 24 weeks in Alway et al. [14]), despite increases in training loads and volume. Since a plateau in muscle growth appears to be inevitable, it is of particular interest for many to investigate the physiological upper limit of muscle mass accumulation within the human body (e.g., the use of the skeletal muscle mass index to estimate the upper limit of muscle mass) [15][16][17][18][19]. However, longitudinal data within the published research are limited in their ability to inform about how years of training might impact the growth responses [9]. ...
... Future research should consider expanding the sample size and including a wider range of age groups to further investigate the relationship between hand grip strength and sit-and-reach flexibility in children. Additionally, incorporating other measures of physical fitness, such as cardiovascular endurance and muscular endurance, could provide a more comprehensive understanding of overall physical capabilities in this population (Abe et al., 2023). ...
... The ndings of this study revealed disparities in the trajectory of HGS levels in relation to countries such as Chile and Colombia, and even with the Peruvian study. These results indicate that there are contextual factors (such as nutrition, physical activity, socioeconomic and sociocultural conditions, lifestyle, environmental pollution, among others) that could be involved in the development of HGS [17][18][19][20]. ...
... Local IC and BFR-E (BFR performed on the tissue of interest) are noted for site-specific improvements, while remote IC and BFR-E (performed on a distant site) are recognized for their systemic benefits. Both IC and BFR-E methods have been shown to improve physiological, cardiovascular, motor, and cognitive parameters, leading to increased muscle strength, hypertrophy, physical performance, and enhanced recovery, particularly in clinical settings (Feng et al. 2019;Freitas et al. 2021;Patterson et al. 2019;Yamada et al. 2023). The mechanisms underlying the efficacy of BFR-E are well documented compared to IC. BFR-E's efficacy has been attributed to creating a hypoxic environment that simulates the conditions of highintensity exercise, thereby inducing similar physiological adaptations (Hughes and Centner 2024). ...
... An interesting finding obtained in this study was that changes in handgrip strength and changes in forearm flexor muscle thickness were inconsistent among the three groups with different physical activity preferences. We recently investigated the association between handgrip strength changes and forearm flexor muscle thickness changes in 218 young children different from the sample of this study [45]. The study found that there were significant (p < 0.001) within-subject correlations between ulna muscle thickness and handgrip strength (r = 0.50) and radius muscle thickness and handgrip strength (r = 0.59). ...
... There is general consensus that the cross-education of strength is likely driven by neural adaptations since changes at the muscle level (e.g., muscle size, fiber type) seem to occur within the trained limb only [14][15][16]. Of note, the cross-education of strength has been suggested as a potential limitation for studies employing within-subject models to compare strength adaptations across different training protocols [17]. ...
... 10 These "upper + lower body" sports may contribute to higher handgrip strength in early adulthood. 11,12 On the other hand, sports impact more than just handgrip strength and that may confound possible relationships. For example, muscle activity itself is associated with numerous signaling pathways. ...
... As recent work has challenged the idea that muscle mass heavily contributes to muscle strength (Buckner et al. 2021;Spitz et al. 2023), we also examined the relationship of muscle thickness % change with E-1RM % change to determine if greater increases in muscle mass were related to changes in E-1RM. Although both TRD-RE and EQI-RE increased absolute muscle thickness and E-1RM after ~8.5 weeks, relative increases in muscle thickness and E-1RM were not associated for either resistance exercise type, suggesting that E-1RM improvements were largely due to neurological or metabolic factors and not changes in muscle mass (Buckner et al. 2021;Nuzzo 2022;Spitz et al. 2023 Limitations are present for the resistance exercise protocol, measurement techniques, and design of the current study. ...