Authors: Claudio Orizio Massimiliano Gobbo Bertrand Diemont Fabio Esposito Arsenio Veicsteinas
Publish Date: 2003/08/16
Volume: 90, Issue: 3-4, Pages: 326-336
Abstract
The surface mechanomyogram MMG detectable at the muscle surface as MMG by accelerometers piezoelectric contact sensors or other transducers is the summation of the activity of single motor units MUs Each MU contribution is related to the pressure waves generated by the active muscle fibres The first part of this article will review briefly the results obtained by our group studying the possible role of motor unit recruitment and firing rate in determining the characteristics of the MMG during stimulated and voluntary contractions The second part of this article will study the MMG and EMG during a short isometric force ramp from 0 to 90 of the maximal voluntary contraction MVC in fresh and fatigued biceps brachii The aim is to verify whether changes in motor unit activation strategy in voluntarily fatigued muscle could be specifically reflected in the time and frequency domain parameters of the MMG MMGRMS vs MVC at fatigue the MMGRMS did not present the well known increment when effort level increases followed by a clear decrement at nearmaximal contraction levels MMGMF vs MVC compared to fresh muscle the fatigued biceps brachii showed an MF trend significantly shifted towards lower values and the steeper MF increment from 65 to 85 MVC was not present The alteration in the MMG and EMG parameters vs MVC relationships at fatigue seems to be related to the impossibility of recruiting fast but more fatigable MUs and to the lowering of the global MUs firing during the short isometric force ramp investigatedThis work was supported by Centro di Studio e Ricerca di Fisiologia Muscolare e dello Sport of Brescia University Italy and by the European Shared cost project NEWNeuromuscular assessment in Elderly Worker QLRT2000–00139 The experiments comply with the current Italian laws
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