Influence of simultaneous bilateral exertion on muscle strength during voluntary submaximal isometric contraction

The influence of simultaneous bilateral exertion on muscle strength was tested under the conditions in which the same or different levels of strength were exerted by the right and left arm (or hand). Isometric muscle strength of elbow flexion, elbow extension and hand grip was studied. Subjects voluntarily exerted 25%, 50% and 75% of maximal strength based on their subjective judgement without the feedback of the strength actually exerted. Involuntary decrements of muscle strength were caused by the bilateral exertion. Muscle strength of both sides decreased under the condition where the same level of strength was exerted by the right and the left arm (or hand). When different levels of strength were exerted by each arm (or hand), the strength of the weaker side considerably decreased, while the strength of the stronger side did not decrease.     

Reproducibility of subjectively graded voluntary isometric muscle strength in unilateral and simultaneous bilateral exertion

Reproduction error of voluntary isometric muscle strength that was graded subjectively by the subject was investigated under unilateral and bilateral conditions. Six kinds of tasks, i.e. elbow flexion, elbow extension, hand grip, second digit abduction, knee extension and leg extension were employed. It was clear that absolute error (AE) increased with increase of exerted muscle strength in both unilateral and bilateral conditions. Mean of AE in each task was 4-5% of maximal muscle strength in the task in unilateral conditions. Algebraic or constant error (CE) decreased with increase of exerted strength. Demands for smaller strength tended to overshoot and larger ones tended to undershoot. In bilateral conditions when the different levels of strength for each limb were required to be exerted, AE on the weaker side tended to be larger than that in unilateral conditions. Thus a possibility that magnitude of AE might be affected by amount of attention was suggested. The subjectively graded criterion strength for a specific required level, when the strength was expressed as relative to the maximal strength, was almost the same in every task within a subject although it was different between subjects. It is suggested that each subject might have an awareness of relative magnitude of exerted strength.