H-reflex and M-wave responses after voluntary and electrically evoked muscle cramping
- PDF / 1,222,214 Bytes
- 14 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 71 Downloads / 160 Views
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
H‑reflex and M‑wave responses after voluntary and electrically evoked muscle cramping Jan‑Frieder Harmsen1,2 · Christopher Latella3,4 · Ricardo Mesquita3 · Alessandro Fasse5 · Moritz Schumann1 · Michael Behringer6 · Janet Taylor3,4 · Kazunori Nosaka3 Received: 16 July 2020 / Accepted: 10 November 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Purpose Despite the widespread occurrence of muscle cramps, their underlying neurophysiological mechanisms remain unknown. To better understand the etiology of muscle cramps, this study investigated acute effects of muscle cramping induced by maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVIC) and neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) on the amplitude of Hoffmann reflexes (H-reflex) and compound muscle action potentials (M-wave). Methods Healthy men (n = 14) and women (n = 3) participated in two identical sessions separated by 7 days. Calf muscle cramping was induced by performing MVIC of the plantar flexors in a prone position followed by 2.5-s NMES over the plantar flexors with increasing frequency and intensity. H-reflexes and M-waves evoked by tibial nerve stimulation in gastrocnemius medialis (GM) and soleus were recorded at baseline, and after MVIC-induced cramps and the NMES protocol. Results Six participants cramped after MVIC, and H-reflex amplitude decreased in GM and soleus in Session 1 (− 33 ± 32%, − 34 ± 33%, p = 0.031) with a similar trend in Session 2 (5 cramped, p = 0.063), whereas the maximum M-wave was unchanged. After NMES, 11 (Session 1) and 9 (Session 2) participants cramped. H-reflex and M-wave recruitment curves shifted to the left in both sessions and muscles after NMES independent of cramping (p ≤ 0.001). Conclusion Changes in H-reflexes after a muscle cramp induced by MVIC and NMES were inconsistent. While MVICinduced muscle cramps reduced H-reflex amplitude, muscle stretch to end cramping was a potential contributing factor. By contrast, NMES may potentiate H-reflexes and obscure cramp-related changes. Thus, the challenge for future studies is to separate the neural consequences of cramping from methodology-based effects. Keywords Maximal voluntary isometric contraction · Gastrocnemius medialis · Soleus · Neuromuscular electrical stimulation · Hoffmann reflex
Communicated by Toshio Moritani. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04560-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Jan‑Frieder Harmsen [email protected] 1
Department of Molecular and Cellular Sports Medicine, German Sport University Cologne, Am Sportpark Müngersdorf 6, 50933 Cologne, Germany
Department of Nutrition and Movement Sciences, School for Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands
2
Abbreviations ANOVA Analysis of variance CTF Cramp threshold frequency CV Coefficient of variation EMG Electromyography EMGRMS EMG root mean
Data Loading...
