Abstract
OPINION article Front. Hum. Neurosci., 22 April 2014Sec. Motor Neuroscience https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00234
Highlights
The magnitude of the neural activation, and the force produced by a muscle, depend on the number of motor units activated and the rates at which motor neurons discharge action potentials
Considering the difference in motor unit discharge rate between slow and fast contractions, these data suggest that ballistic contractions could be used to assess the maximal discharge rate of motor neurons in humans
As the rate of force development during electrically evoked contractions, that by-pass motor neurons activation, is less reduced than those during ballistic voluntary contractions, the decline in maximal motor unit discharge rate should significantly contribute to limit the performance of fast voluntary contractions with ageing
Summary
The magnitude of the neural activation, and the force produced by a muscle, depend on the number of motor units activated (recruitment) and the rates at which motor neurons discharge action potentials (rate coding). Both contractions involved reaching a target force as fast as possible, results from our laboratory indicate that the maximal rate of torque development is ∼16% greater for ballistic than step and hold contractions (465.2 ± 17.4 vs 400.5 ± 20 Nm/s; mean ± SD) performed with the ankle dorsiflexor muscles.
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