ArticlePloS one2013
The symmetry of children's knees is linked to their adult sprinting speed and their willingness to sprint in a long-term Jamaican study.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Relationship Between Inter-limb Asymmetry and Sprinting Performance in Sprint Athletes: A Systematic Review.Sports medicine - open · 2026Pooled it
- Association Between Inter-Limb Asymmetry and Determinants of Middle- and Long-distance Running Performance in Healthy Populations: A Systematic Review.Sports medicine - open · 2024Pooled it
- Fluctuating Asymmetry in the Polymorphic Sand Cricket (Insects · 2022Article
- Lower body symmetry and running performance in elite Jamaican track and field athletes.PloS one · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Jamaican athletes are prominent in sprint running but the reasons for their success are not clear. Here we consider the possibility that symmetry, particularly symmetry of the legs, in Jamaican children is linked to high sprinting speed in adults. Our study population was a cohort of 288 rural children, mean age 8.2 (± 1 SD = 1.7) years in 1996. Symmetry was measured in 1996 and 2006 from the fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of three lower-body traits and we constructed a lower body composite FA trait (Comp lb-FA). In 2010 we measured sprinting speed (for 90 m and 180 m races) in participants recruited from our original cohort. There were 163 untrained adults in our sample. We found: (i) high Comp lb and knee symmetry in 1996 and 2006 were linked to fast sprinting times in our 2010 runners and (ii) our sample of sprinters appears to have self-selected for greater symmetry. We conclude that high knee symmetry in childhood is linked to an ability to sprint fast in adult Jamaicans as well as a readiness to sprint.
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Registered trials
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