Can measures of neuromuscular interaction reveal the superiority of East-African endurance runners?

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The superior success of East-African middle- and long-distance runners has stimulated large amount of interest to explore valid reasons for their performance. However, their high running economy could not be explained by any of the physiological and/or histochemical parameters. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to examine whether the East-African runners possess a particular type of triceps surae muscle-tendon complex, which could favor high running economy. East African and Japanese middle- and long-distance male runners, who participated in major national and/or international running competitions, were recruited for this study. Our results clearly showed that the specific neuromuscular interaction utilizing inherent anatomical benefits for the East-African distance runners, such as great Achilles tendon moment arm and short muscle length, could be a unique alternative to the classic stretch-shortening cycle concept for enhancing endurance running performance.