A comparative study on morphology and functions of muscle-tendon complex in Japanese and Kenyan distance runners

本研究的目的是探讨日本和肯尼亚长跑运动员肌肉-肌腱复合体的形态和功能的差异，并将结果与比赛成绩联系起来。日本和肯尼亚的数据之间的比较，并在日本不同的性能组之间的建议的可能性，比赛性能与小腿的形态，肌腱几何形状，肌肉刚度和肌腱的顺应性。特别是，被动扭矩的踝关节和肌肉刚度显着高于52%和181%，在肯尼亚比日本，分别。此外，这些参数显示出正相关的比赛成绩（R=0.58，0.53）在日本长跑运动员。

The purposes of the present work were to investigate the differences in morphology and functions of muscle-tendon complex in Japanese and Kenyan distance runners, and to relate the results to race performance. The comparison between Japanese and Kenyan data, and between different performance groups in Japanese suggested the possibility that the race performance is related to morphology of lower leg, tendon geometry, muscle stiffness and tendon compliance. In particular, the passive torque of ankle joint and muscle stiffness were significantly higher by 52% and by 181% in Kenyan than in Japanese, respectively. In addition, these parameters showed positive correlations to race performance (R=0.58, 0.53) in Japanese distance runners.