Abstract
Tensiomyography measures the radial displacement of a muscle during an electrically evoked twitch contraction. The rate of muscle displacement is increasingly reported to assess contractile properties. Several formulas currently exist to calculate the rate of displacement during the contraction phase of the maximal twitch response. However, information on the reproducibility of these formulas is scarce. Further, different rest intervals ranging from 10 s to 30 s are applied between consecutive stimuli during progressive electrical stimulation until the maximum twitch response. The effect of different rest intervals on the rate of displacement has not been investigated so far. The first aim of this study is to investigate the within and between-day reliability of the most frequently used formulas to calculate the rate of displacement. The second aim is to investigate the effect of changing the inter-stimulus interval on the rate of displacement. We will determine the rectus femoris and biceps femoris rate of displacement of twenty-four healthy subjects' dominant leg on two consecutive days. The maximum displacement curve will be determined two times within three minutes on the first day and a third time 24 h later. On day two, we will also apply three blocks of ten consecutive stimuli at a constant intensity of 50 mA. Inter-stimuli intervals will be 10 s, 20 s or 30 s in each block, respectively, and three minutes between blocks. The order of inter-stimulus intervals will be randomized. This study will allow a direct comparison between the five most frequently used formulas to calculate the rate of displacement in terms of their reproducibility. Our data will also inform on the effect of different inter-stimulus intervals on the rate of displacement. These results will provide helpful information on methodical considerations to determine the rate of displacement and may thus contribute to a standardized approach.
Highlights
A muscle twitch is the contractile response to a single electrochemical signal of the nervous system or artificial electrical stimulation of the muscle
In a systematic review about the reliability of TMG, Martın-Rodrıguez et al [1] found that previous studies mainly used an inter-stimulus interval (ISI) of 10 s or 15 s to avoid fatigue or post-tetanic potentiation
The results showed that Tc was not significantly affected by different ISI, whereas Dm was significantly greater using an ISI of 10 s than 30 s
Summary
A muscle twitch is the contractile response to a single electrochemical signal of the nervous system or artificial electrical stimulation of the muscle. In a systematic review about the reliability of TMG, Martın-Rodrıguez et al [1] found that previous studies mainly used an inter-stimulus interval (ISI) of 10 s or 15 s to avoid fatigue or post-tetanic potentiation They stated a lack of studies investigating the optimal rest interval between consecutive stimuli [1]. They concluded that an ISI of 10 s is sufficient during five consecutive stimuli [32] Both of the studies mentioned above did not report Vc, so the effect of ISI during repeated stimulation on Vc is still unclear. The first aim of this study will be to investigate the within and between-day reliability of five different formulas to calculate Vc. The second aim will be to investigate the effect of different ISI during repeated stimulation on Vc, assessed by the example of M. biceps femoris and M. rectus femoris. We hypothesize that Vc will be affected by changing ISI during ten repeated stimuli at a constant intensity of 50 mA
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