Why sports should embrace bilateral asymmetry: a narrative review

Afonso, Jose, Pena, Javier, Sa, Mario, Virgile, Adam, Garcia-de-Alcaraz, Antonio and Bishop, Chris ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1505-1287 (2022) Why sports should embrace bilateral asymmetry: a narrative review. Symmetry, 14 (10) , 1993. ISSN 2073-8994 [Article] (doi:10.3390/sym14101993)

Preview

PDF - Published version (with publisher's formatting) Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

(1) Background: Asymmetry is ubiquitous in nature and humans have well-established bilateral asymmetries in their structures and functions. However, there are (mostly unsubstantiated) claims that bilateral asymmetries may impair sports performance or increase injury risk. (2) Objective: To critically review the evidence of the occurrence and effects of asymmetry and sports performance.
(3) Development: Asymmetry is prevalent across several sports regardless of age, gender, or competitive level, and can be verified even in apparently symmetric actions (e.g., running and rowing).
Assessments of bilateral asymmetries are highly task-, metric-, individual-, and sport-specific; fluctuate significantly in time (in magnitude and, more importantly, in direction); and tend to be poorly correlated among themselves, as well as with general performance measures. Assessments of sports-specific performance is mostly lacking. Most studies assessing bilateral asymmetries do not actually assess the occurrence of injuries. While injuries tend to accentuate bilateral asymmetries, there is no
evidence that pre-existing asymmetries increase injury risk. While training programs reduce certain bilateral asymmetries, there is no evidence that such reductions result in increased sport-specific
performance or reduced injury risk. (4) Conclusions: Bilateral asymmetries are prevalent in sports, do not seem to impair performance, and there is no evidence that suggests that they increase injury risk.

Actions (login required)

View Item

Statistics

DownloadsShow export options

Export as CSVXMLJSON

Activity Overview

6 month trend

10Downloads

6 month trend

35Hits

Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.