Colomer-Poveda, DavidLopez-Rivera, EvaHortobagyi, TiborMárquez, GonzaloFernandez-del-Olmo, Miguel2024-12-272024-12-272023-03-23Colomer-Poveda D, López-Rivera E, Hortobágyi T, Márquez G, Fernández-Del-Olmo M. Differences in the effects of a startle stimulus on rate of force development between resistance-trained rock climbers and untrained individuals: Evidence for reticulospinal adaptations? Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2023 Aug;33(8):1360-1372. doi: 10.1111/sms.14351. Epub 2023 Mar 23. PMID: 36920047.0905-7188https://hdl.handle.net/10115/47578This study was supported by the Xunta de Galicia (Grant Ref. ED431B 2021/28) and by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Grant Ref. PID2021‐128204OA‐I00). Funding for open access charge: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG.The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to determine if chronic rock climbing and climbing-specific resistance training (RT) would modify the reticulospinal tract (RST) efficacy. Sixteen healthy, elite level climbers (CL; n = 16, 5 F; 29.8 ± 6.7 years) with 12 ± 7 years of climbing and climbing-specific RT experience and 15 healthy recreationally active participants (CON; n = 15, 4 F; 24.6 ± 5.9 years), volunteered for the study. We quantified RST efficacy by comparing the effects of a startle stimulus over reaction time (Rtime ) and measured rate of force development (RFD) and surface electromyography (sEMG) in representative muscles during powerful hand grip contractions. Both groups performed two Rtime tasks while performing rapid, powerful gripping with the right hand (Task 1) or during 3-s-long maximal voluntary right hand grip contractions in response to an imperative visual signal alone (V), or combined with a auditory-non startle stimulus (A) or/and startling auditory stimulus (S). We also tested the reproducibility of these responses on two separate days in CON. Intersession reliability ranged from 0.34 to 0.96 for all variables. The CL versus CON was 37% stronger (p = 0.003). The S stimulus decreased Rtime and increased RFD and sEMG in both groups during both tasks (all p < 0.001). Rtime was similar between groups in all conditions. However, CL had a greater RFD from 50 to 100 ms compared with CON only after the S stimulus in both tasks (p < 0.05, d = 0.85-0.96). The data tentatively suggest that chronic rock climbing and climbing-specific RT might improve RST efficacy, by increasing RST input to the α-motoneurons.enAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/neural adaptations;Reaction time taskstartle responsestrength trainingArticle10.1111/sms.14351info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess