Cross-Education After One Session of Unilateral Surface Electrical Stimulation of the Rectus Femoris

Abstract

Thirty-six adult men were randomly assigned to a remote stimulation group (RS; n = 18) or control group (CTL; n = 18). The RS group unilaterally performed a 10-minute surface electrical stimulation program (frequency 100 Hz, impulse 300 micros, 10 seconds on/10 seconds off) on the rectus femoris of the non-dominant leg. The subjects of the CTL group relaxed for 10 minutes without performing any training. Immediately before and after the surface electrical stimulation program, the isometric strength and the electromyographic (EMG) and mechanomyographic (MMG) response of the dominant leg was measured for all subjects. The dominant leg of the RS group showed a significant increase in the isometric force (5.11%; P < 0.001) and EMG activity of the agonist muscle (4.67%; P < 0.05), whereas a decrease in EMG activity of the antagonist muscles was observed (-10.27%; P < 0.05). The MMG activity did not show any alteration. No significant changes were observed for the CTL group. These results indicate that one unilateral surface electrical stimulation session on the rectus femoris improves the efficiency of the inactive leg. At a practical level, the results open a new way to rehabilitate muscle-skeletal injuries, especially weak members that cannot do any physical work. In this case, the muscle strength (and physical efficiency) can be improved by passive electrostimulation training on the healthy member.

The Effects of Radius Bone Density on the Resting Myoelectrical Activity of Contralateral Wrist Flexors in Subjects Exposed to Unilateral Forearm Vibration

“…16,21 In the present study one session vibration was applied. The major finding of this study was an increase in the resting myoelectrical activity of the contralateral homologous muscle associated with the ipsilateral ultradistal radius BMD during unilateral forearm vibration.…”

“…It can occur with training accomplished by voluntary effort or electrical stimulation of muscles or by mental practice of unilateral contractions. 15,16 Wang and Salem were the first to show that the cross-education phenomenon could occur with vibration.…”

Efecto del entrenamiento combinado de pliometría y electroestimulación en salto vertical. (Effect of combined plyometric and electrostimulation training on vertical jump).

“…Otro aspecto controvertido en la aplicación de la EE NM ha sido la frecuencia (Hz) a emplear Child, Brown, Day, Saxton, y Donnehy (1998), Meaños, Alonso, Sánchez, y Téllez, (2002), aunque finalmente, las frecuencias entre 70 y 120 Hz son las más empleadas para aumentar la fuerza explosiva y las comprendidas entre 120 y 150 Hz las utilizadas para mejorar la fuerza explosiva-elástica (Maffiuletti, Cometti, Amiridis, Martin, Pousson, y Chatard, 2000;Vanderthommen y Crielaard, 2001;Valli, Boldrini, Bianchedi, Brizzi, y Miserocchi, 2002;Gondin, Guetie, Ballay, y Martin, 2006;Lyons, Robb, Irrgang, y Fitzgerald, 2005;Paillard, Noé, Passelergue, y Dupui, 2006;Toca-Herrera, Gallach, Gómis y González, 2008).…”

“…Respecto al ancho de impulso la mayoría de los estudios apuntan hacia protocolos próximos a los 300 Ms (Vanderthommen y Crielaard, 2001;Linares, Escalante, y LaTouche, 2004;Babault et al, 2007;Toca-Herrera et al, 2008. En segundo lugar, en cuanto a la intensidad se refiere, muchos autores recomiendan elevarla hasta conseguir un 60 % de la contracción isométrica voluntaria máxima obtenida mediante dinamómetro (Colson, Martín, y Van Hoecke, 2000;Maffiuletti, Dugnani, Folz, Di pierno, y Mauro, 2002;Valli et al, 2002;Brocherie et al, 2005;Holcomb, 2005;Babault et al, 2007), aunque se considera que a medida que pasan los días de entrenamiento con EE NM, se produce una mayor tolerancia a la intensidad de corriente (Ward y Shukuratova, 2002), debiendo ésta adaptarse tanto al momento de la temporada o microciclo, como a las características del sujeto (Meaños et al, 2002;Petrofsky, 2008).…”

Cross Effect of Electrostimulation of Quadriceps Femoris Muscle during Maximum Voluntary Contraction under Conditions of Biofeedback

“…Cross effect is a phenomenon, when regular muscular activity of one limb induces similar changes in the homologous muscles on the contralateral side of the body. Increase in dynamometry indices was revealed in the course of one standard electrostimulation (ES) procedure: increment of isokinetic moment on non-stimulated limb was about 5% from the baseline [5]; 4-week ES course resulted in isokinetic moment increase up to 10%; 8-week ES course produced a 20% increase [2].…”