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Effects of three neuromuscular electrical stimulation methods on muscle force production and neuromuscular fatigue
Author(s) -
Alahmari Sami K.,
Shield Anthony J.,
Trajano Gabriel S.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of medicine and science in sports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.575
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1600-0838
pISSN - 0905-7188
DOI - 10.1111/sms.14210
Subject(s) - medicine , stimulation , plantar flexion , electromyography , anesthesia , cardiology , physical medicine and rehabilitation , physical therapy , anatomy , ankle
This study compared the acute responses of three neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) methods on muscle torque‐time integral (TTI) and neuromuscular fatigue. Narrow‐pulse (0.2 ms; NP), wide‐pulse (1 ms; WP), and tendon vibration superimposed onto wide‐pulse (WP + VIB)‐NMES conditions were applied to sixteen healthy individuals ( n = 16) in three separate sessions in a randomized order. Stimulation intensity was set to elicit 20% of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC); the stimulus pattern comprised four sets of 20 repetitions (5 s On and 5 s Off) with a one‐minute inter‐set interval. TTI was measured for each NMES condition and MVC, voluntary activation (VA), peak twitch torque (Peak twitch ), and peak soleus (EMG SOL ), medial (EMG MG ), and lateral gastrocnemius (EMG LG ) electromyography were measured before and immediately after each NMES condition. TTI was higher during WP + VIB (19.63 ± 6.34 MVC.s, mean difference = 3.66, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.501) than during WP (15.97 ± 4.79 MVC.s) condition. TTI was higher during WP + VIB (mean difference = 3.79, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.626) than during NP (15.84 ± 3.73 MVC.s) condition. MVC and Peak twitch forces decreased ( p ≤ 0.001) immediately after all conditions. No changes were observed for VA ( p = 0.365). EMG SOL amplitude reduced ( p = 0.040) only after NP, yet EMG LG and EMG MG amplitudes decreased immediately after all conditions ( p = 0.003 and p = 0.013, respectively). WP + VIB produced a higher TTI than WP and NP‐NMES, with similar amounts of neuromuscular fatigue across protocols. All NMES protocols induced similar amounts of peripheral fatigue and reduced EMG amplitudes.