Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

Scientific Reports

Volume

11

Issue

1

PubMed ID

33737664

Publisher

Nature

School

Centre for Exercise and Sports Science Research / School of Medical and Health Sciences

RAS ID

35492

Funders

Swiss Society of Sports Medicine University of Lausanne

Comments

Donnelly, C., Stegmüller, J., Blazevich, A. J., von Roten, F. C., Kayser, B., Neyroud, D., & Place, N. (2021). Modulation of torque evoked by wide-pulse, high-frequency neuromuscular electrical stimulation and the potential implications for rehabilitation and training. Scientific Reports, 11, article 6399. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-85645-0

Abstract

The effectiveness of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) for rehabilitation is proportional to the evoked torque. The progressive increase in torque (extra torque) that may develop in response to low intensity wide-pulse high-frequency (WPHF) NMES holds great promise for rehabilitation as it overcomes the main limitation of NMES, namely discomfort. WPHF NMES extra torque is thought to result from reflexively recruited motor units at the spinal level. However, whether WPHF NMES evoked force can be modulated is unknown. Therefore, we examined the effect of two interventions known to change the state of spinal circuitry in opposite ways on evoked torque and motor unit recruitment by WPHF NMES. The interventions were high-frequency transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and anodal transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS). We show that TENS performed before a bout of WPHF NMES results in lower evoked torque (median change in torque time-integral: − 56%) indicating that WPHF NMES-evoked torque might be modulated. In contrast, the anodal tsDCS protocol used had no effect on any measured parameter. Our results demonstrate that WPHF NMES extra torque can be modulated and although the TENS intervention blunted extra torque production, the finding that central contribution to WPHF NMES-evoked torques can be modulated opens new avenues for designing interventions to enhance WPHF NMES.

DOI

10.1038/s41598-021-85645-0

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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