TY - JOUR
T1 - H-reflex and M-wave responses after voluntary and electrically evoked muscle cramping
AU - Harmsen, Jan-Frieder
AU - Latella, Christopher
AU - Mesquita, Ricardo
AU - Fasse, Alessandro
AU - Schumann, Moritz
AU - Behringer, Michael
AU - Taylor, Janet
AU - Nosaka, Kazunori
N1 - Funding Information:
JFH was funded by the German Academic Exchange Service to perform a research visit at Edith Cowan University (Australia). The authors state that no further funding was received.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/2
Y1 - 2021/2
N2 - 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
AB - 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
KW - Maximal voluntary isometric contraction
KW - Gastrocnemius medialis
KW - Soleus
KW - Neuromuscular electrical stimulation
KW - Hoffmann reflex
KW - THRESHOLD FREQUENCY
KW - EXCITABILITY CHANGES
KW - STIMULATION
KW - MECHANISMS
KW - SOLEUS
KW - RELIABILITY
KW - DEPRESSION
U2 - 10.1007/s00421-020-04560-w
DO - 10.1007/s00421-020-04560-w
M3 - Article
C2 - 33245422
SN - 1439-6319
VL - 121
SP - 659
EP - 672
JO - European Journal of Applied Physiology
JF - European Journal of Applied Physiology
IS - 2
ER -