Effect of gender, age, fatigue and contraction level on electromechanical delay

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine electromechanical delay (EMD) using supramaximal stimuli and to investigate its variation with gender, age, contraction level and fatigue. METHODS Fifteen male and 15 female healthy subjects (aged between 18 and 60) participated in our study. Electromyogram (EMG) recordings were taken from triceps surae muscle. While subjects contracted their muscles voluntarily at specified percentages of maximum voluntary contraction, 10 supramaximal stimuli were applied to the tibial nerve. The time lag between the onset of the EMG response (M-wave) and the onset of force generation was calculated as EMD. RESULTS EMD was found to be 8.5+/-1.3 ms (at rest condition), which is much shorter than those reported in previous studies. Although EMD did not significantly vary with gender (P>0.05), it decreased significantly with escalating muscle contraction level (P<0.05) and increased significantly with advancing age and with fatigue (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS EMD was found to be considerably shorter than those reported in previous studies, and hence we discuss the possible reasons underlying this difference. We suggest that supramaximal nerve stimulation and high resolution EMG and force recording may have generated this difference. SIGNIFICANCE Current findings suggest that EMD is very sensitive to the method used to determine it. We discuss the reasons for the short EMD value that we have found in the present study.

[1]  Gabrielle Todd,et al.  Supraspinal fatigue does not explain the sex difference in muscle fatigue of maximal contractions. , 2006, Journal of applied physiology.

[2]  Marc D. Binder,et al.  The Segmental motor system , 1990 .

[3]  A COMPARISON OF VOLUNTARY AND INVOLUNTARY MEASURES OF ELECTROMECHANICAL DELAY , 2007 .

[4]  J T Viitasalo,et al.  Interrelationships between electromyographic, mechanical, muscle structure and reflex time measurements in man. , 1981, Acta physiologica Scandinavica.

[5]  D F Stegeman,et al.  Relation between muscle fiber conduction velocity and fiber size in neuromuscular disorders. , 2006, Journal of applied physiology.

[6]  S C Gandevia,et al.  Impaired response of human motoneurones to corticospinal stimulation after voluntary exercise , 1999, The Journal of physiology.

[7]  R. Enoka.  Neuromechanics of Human Movement , 2001 .

[8]  T. Miles,et al.  Does reflex inhibition of motor units follow the “size principle”? , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[9]  D. Allen,et al.  Skeletal muscle fatigue: cellular mechanisms. , 2008, Physiological reviews.

[10]  Adamantios Arampatzis,et al.  Mechanical and morphological properties of different muscle–tendon units in the lower extremity and running mechanics: effect of aging and physical activity , 2005, Journal of Experimental Biology.

[11]  P. Graham-Smith,et al.  Effect of acute tensile loading on gender‐specific tendon structural and mechanical properties , 2009, Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society.

[12]  John D. Enderle,et al.  Introduction to Biomedical Engineering , 1999 .

[13]  M. Ireland,et al.  ACL Injuries in the Female Athlete , 1997 .

[14]  G. Onambélé,et al.  Tendon structural and mechanical properties do not differ between genders in a healthy community‐dwelling elderly population , 2009, Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society.

[15]  A. Hof,et al.  In vivo measurement of the series elasticity release curve of human triceps surae muscle. , 1998, Journal of biomechanics.

[16]  N. Choi,et al.  Tensile and viscoelastic properties of human patellar tendon , 1994, Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society.

[17]  K S Türker,et al.  Conditions for excitatory or inhibitory masseteric reflexes elicited by tooth pressure in man. , 1997, Archives of oral biology.

[18]  P Kannus,et al.  Etiology and pathophysiology of chronic tendon disorders in sports , 1997, Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports.

[19]  E. Arendt,et al.  Knee Injury Patterns Among Men and Women in Collegiate Basketball and Soccer , 1995, The American journal of sports medicine.

[20]  P. Macklem,et al.  Effect of caffeine on skeletal muscle function before and after fatigue. , 1983, Journal of applied physiology: respiratory, environmental and exercise physiology.

[21]  Shi Zhou,et al.  Effects of fatigue and sprint training on electromechanical delay of knee extensor muscles , 2004, European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology.

[22]  I. Jacobs,et al.  Electro-mechanical response times and rate of force development in males and females. , 1986, Medicine and science in sports and exercise.

[23]  P. Cavanagh,et al.  Electromechanical delay in human skeletal muscle under concentric and eccentric contractions , 1979, European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology.

[24]  Stefan Catheline,et al.  Electromechanical delay revisited using very high frame rate ultrasound. , 2009, Journal of applied physiology.

[25]  J. Grosset,et al.  Age-Related Changes in Twitch Properties of Plantar Flexor Muscles in Prepubertal Children , 2005, Pediatric Research.

[26]  G. Sjøgaard,et al.  Water and ion shifts in skeletal muscle of humans with intense dynamic knee extension. , 1985, The American journal of physiology.

[27]  Tetsuro Muraoka,et al.  Influence of tendon slack on electromechanical delay in the human medial gastrocnemius in vivo. , 2004, Journal of applied physiology.

[28]  Shi Zhou,et al.  Electromechanical delay in isometric muscle contractions evoked by voluntary, reflex and electrical stimulation , 2004, European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology.

[29]  J. Kent‐Braun,et al.  Sex differences in human skeletal muscle fatigue are eliminated under ischemic conditions. , 2003, Journal of applied physiology.

[30]  Y. Kawakami,et al.  Interaction between series compliance and sarcomere kinetics determines internal sarcomere shortening during fixed-end contraction. , 2000, Journal of biomechanics.

[31]  Sandra J Shultz,et al.  The differential effects of fatigue on reflex response timing and amplitude in males and females. , 2002, Journal of electromyography and kinesiology : official journal of the International Society of Electrophysiological Kinesiology.

[32]  K. Tucker,et al.  A new method to estimate signal cancellation in the human maximal M-wave , 2005, Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

[33]  T. Miles,et al.  Biphasic inhibitory responses and their IPSPs evoked by tibial nerve stimulation in human soleus motor neurones , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[34]  E. M. Winter,et al.  Electromechanical response times and muscle elasticity in men and women , 2004, European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology.

[35]  Chantal Pérot,et al.  Paired changes in electromechanical delay and musculo-tendinous stiffness after endurance or plyometric training , 2008, European Journal of Applied Physiology.

[36]  Kemal S Türker,et al.  A method for quantifying reflex responses from intra-muscular and surface electromyogram , 2003, Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

[37]  Kemal S. Türker,et al.  The lip-clip:A simple, low-impedance ground electrode for use in human electrophysiology , 1988, Brain Research Bulletin.

[38]  T. Miles,et al.  Limitation of jaw movement by antagonist muscle stiffness during unloading of human jaw closing muscles , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[39]  R. Eston,et al.  Effects of acute fatigue on the volitional and magnetically-evoked electromechanical delay of the knee flexors in males and females , 2007, European Journal of Applied Physiology.

[40]  K. Türker,et al.  Jaw reflexes evoked by mechanical stimulation of teeth in humans. , 1999, Journal of neurophysiology.

[41]  T. Fukunaga,et al.  Gender differences in the viscoelastic properties of tendon structures , 2003, European Journal of Applied Physiology.

[42]  Marc F Norcross,et al.  Comparison of hamstring neuromechanical properties between healthy males and females and the influence of musculotendinous stiffness. , 2009, Journal of electromyography and kinesiology : official journal of the International Society of Electrophysiological Kinesiology.

[43]  M. Latash.  Neurophysiological basis of movement , 1998 .

[44]  R. Enoka,et al.  Muscle fatigue: what, why and how it influences muscle function , 2008, The Journal of physiology.

[45]  Catherine Disselhorst-Klug,et al.  Myoelectric manifestations of fatigue at low contraction levels in subjects with and without chronic pain. , 2007, Journal of electromyography and kinesiology : official journal of the International Society of Electrophysiological Kinesiology.

[46]  D. Allen,et al.  Intracellular calcium and tension during fatigue in isolated single muscle fibres from Xenopus laevis. , 1989, The Journal of physiology.