Age and isokinetic peak torque at the elbow in young girl swimmers

OBJECTIVE: This cross-sectional study examined the relationships between age and absolute peak torque (PT) as well as PT covaried for body weight (BW), height (HT), and/or fat-free weight (FFW) in young girl swimmers. METHODS: Twenty-nine girl swimmers (age=12.4 ± 1.9 yr) were measured for isokinetic elbow flexion and extension PT at 30, 180, 300° · s ^-1, as well as BW, HT, and FFW. Zero-order correlations as well as first, second, and third-order partial correlations were used to determine the relationships for age versus PT and age versus PT covaried for BW, HT, and/or FFW. RESULTS: There were age-related increases for all absolute PT measures (r=0.47 to 0.77), except elbow flexion at 300° · s^-1. For all but one of the measures (forearm extension at 30° · s ^-1; r=0.42 to 0.56), the increases in PT were accounted for by changes in BW, HT, and/or FFW. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicated that agef-related increases in PT for four of the six measures were accounted for by BW, HT, and/or FFW. The age-related increases in PT for elbow flexion at 30° · s^-1 independent of BW, HT, and/or FFW, may have been due to neuromuscular maturation.