BASES AND OBJECTIVE: This is a comparative and descriptive study that aims at analyzing the strength for the different angles of the knee flexion and extension in militaries. The objective of this study was to evaluate the extensor and flexor muscles of the knee joint for different angles by means of the Modified Sphygmomanometer (MS) in healthy militaries. METHODS: The sample was composed of 31 militaries as follows: 19 male and 12 female with average age of 26.5 ± 5.8 years; respective average height of 162.00 ± 0.06 (cm) and 175.00 ± 0.06 (cm) and average body mass of 56.83 ± 5.85 (kg) and 73.25 ± 10.46 (kg). The evaluation methodology was the one proposed by Helewa, Goldsmith and Smithe (1981) using Modified Sphygmomanometer (MS). The maximal isometric contractions at 30º of flexion and 30º/90º of extension were obtained in the Make test, in the Inbaf flexion-extension table and recorded by the MS Tycos. The data was analyzed using the "t" Student-test to compare the averages, and the significance level adopted was p > 0.05. RESULTS: In both the female and the male groups, significant difference was only observed between angles of 30 and 90 degrees of the right knee extension (p > 0.05). At angles of 90 degrees for the knee extension and of 30 degrees for knee flexion, no intra-groups significant differences were observed (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Militaries present strength differences between knee joint anterior and posterior muscular groups at the different angles studied. The methodology used showed to be satisfactory for the strength qualitative evaluation.
Isometric strength; Sphygmomanometer; Knee joint
