Effects of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation on the Frequency of Skeletal Muscle Cramps: A Prospective Controlled Clinical Trial

Behringer, Michael; Harmsen, Jan‐Frieder; Fasse, Alessandro; Mester, Joachim

doi:10.1111/ner.12728

Cited by 9 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(43 reference statements)

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“…This was not expected, since we hypothesised that TF would not change for the OS-1 ® condition. The magnitude of the TF increase (~4 to 5 Hz) in the present study was similar to that found after a neuromuscular electrical stimulation intervention for 6 weeks to reduce calf muscle cramp 16. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first study to show that ORS intake may reduce muscle cramp.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Therefore, the present study investigated the hypothesis that ingestion of spring water after 2% dehydration induced by DHR in the heat would decrease TF, but no changes in TF would be observed after ingestion of ORS. Previous studies have used TF of the abductor hallucis muscle,13–15 or the plantar flexors,16 and used a decrease in TF as a marker of increased muscle cramp susceptibility. In the present study, a TF measure of calf muscles was established and used to assess muscle cramp susceptibility after DHR in the heat, and OS-1 ® (Otsuka Pharmaceutical Factory, Japan) was used as ORS.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Water intake after dehydration makes muscles more susceptible to cramp but electrolytes reverse that effect

Lau

Kato

Nosaka

2019

BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med

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ObjectiveNo previous study has compared water and oral rehydration solution (ORS) intake after dehydration induced by exercise in the heat for the effect on muscle cramps. The present study tested the hypothesis that water ingestion after dehydration would increase muscle cramp susceptibility, but this would be prevented by ORS ingestion.MethodsTen men performed two bouts of downhill running (DHR; −5%) in the heat (35°C–36 °C) until their body mass was reduced by 2%. Ten minutes after DHR, either spring water or electrolyte water similar to ORS (OS-1®) was ingested in a counter-balanced order on two different days separated by a week. Muscle cramp susceptibility was assessed by a threshold frequency (TF) of electrical train stimulation to induce cramp before, immediately after (0), and 30 and 60 min after the ingestion. Blood samples were taken before, immediately and 80 min after DHR to measure serum electrolyte concentrations.ResultsMuscle cramp susceptibility assessed by TF did not change from baseline to immediately after DHR for both conditions (water: 24.6 ± 2.1 Hz, OS-1®: 24.7 ± 1.4 Hz). TF decreased after water intake by 4.3 Hz (30 min) and 5.1 Hz (60 min post-ingestion), but increased after OS-1®intake by 3.7 and 5.4 Hz, respectively. Serum sodium and chloride concentrations decreased after water intake but maintained after OS-1®intake.ConclusionThese results suggest that water intake after dehydration makes muscles more susceptible to electrical simulation-induced muscle cramp, probably due to dilution of electrolytes, and when OS-1®is consumed, the susceptibility to muscle cramp decreases.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water intake after dehydration makes muscles more susceptible to cramp but electrolytes reverse that effect

Lau

Kato

Nosaka

2019

BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med

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“…Local heat is effective in preventing leg nocturnal muscle cramp in the elderly. There is evidence that local electrical stimulation of muscle with higher susceptibility for cramps leads to higher cramp thresholds in subjects with EAMC . Whether electrical stimulation could also reduce the occurrence of cramps in other medical conditions has to be investigated.…”

Section: Management Of Crampmentioning

confidence: 99%

Muscular cramp: causes and management

Swash

Czesnik

Carvalho

2018

Euro J of Neurology

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Muscular cramp is a common symptom in healthy people, especially among the elderly and in young people after vigorous or peak exercise. It is prominent in a number of benign neurological syndromes. It is a particular feature of chronic neurogenic disorders, especially amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. A literature review was undertaken to understand the diverse clinical associations of cramp and its neurophysiological basis, taking into account recent developments in membrane physiology and modulation of motor neuronal excitability. Many aspects of cramping remain incompletely understood and require further study. Current treatment options are correspondingly limited.

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“…TF has been used to assess muscle cramp susceptibility in the previous studies for the abductor halluces muscle [18,19,23] or the plantar exors [14]. For example, Behringer et al [14] showed that neuromuscular electrical stimulation performed twice a week for 6 weeks reduced the number of spontaneous calf cramps by 78%, and this was accompanied by an increase in the cramp threshold frequency from 15.5 ± 8.5 Hz to 21.7 ± 12.4 Hz. It should be noted that TF measures do not provide cramping intensity and duration, or pain associate with the muscle cramp, and it is not necessarily clear whether a change in TF re ects a change in muscle cramp sussceptability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To quantify muscle cramp susceptibility, previous studies [14][15][16][17][18][19] used electrical stimulation to induce muscle cramp, and showed that muscle cramp was induced by increasing the electrical stilumation frequency, and the threshold frequency that induced muscle cramp could be used as an indicator of muscle cramp susceptibility. Lau et al [16] reported that spring water ingestion after dehydration equivalent to 2% of body mass induced by downhill running in the heat (35-36°C), increased muscle cramp susceptibility assessed by a threshold frequency (TF) of electrical train stimulation to induce cramp.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of oral rehydration solution versus spring water intake during exercise in the heat on muscle cramp susceptibility of young men

Lau

Kato

Nosaka

2020

Preprint

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Background: Muscle cramp is a painful, involuntary muscle contraction, and occurs during or following exercise, which is referred to as exercise-associated muscle cramp (EAMC). The causes of EAMC are likely to be multifactorial, but dehydration and electrolytes deficits have been considered to be factors. This study tested the hypothesis that post-exercise muscle cramp susceptibility would be increased with spring water ingestion, but reduced with oral rehydration solution (ORS) ingestion during exercise. Methods: Ten men performed downhill running (DHR) in the heat (35–36°C) for 40–60 min to reduce 1.5–2% of their body mass in two conditions (spring water vs ORS) in a cross-over design. The body mass was measured at 20 min and every 10 min thereafter during DHR, and 30 min post-DHR. The participants ingested either spring water or ORS for the body mass loss in each period. The two conditions were counter-balanced among the participants and separated by a week. Calf muscle cramp susceptibility was assessed by a threshold frequency (TF) of an electrical train stimulation to induce cramp before, immediately after, 30 and 65 min post-DHR. Blood samples were taken before, immediately and 65 min after DHR to measure serum sodium, potassium, magnesium and chroride concentrations, hematocrit (Hct), hemoglobin (Hb), and serum osmolarity. Changes in these varaibles over time were compared between conditions by two-way repeated measures of analysis of variance. Results: The average (±SD) baseline TF (25.6 ± 0.7 Hz) was the same between conditions. TF decreased by 3.8 ± 2.7 to 4.5 ± 1.7 Hz from immediately to 65 min post-DHR for the spring water condition, but increased by 6.5 ± 4.9 to 13.6 ± 6.0 Hz in the same time period for the ORS condition (P<0.05). Hct and Hb did not change significantly (P>0.05) for both conditions, but osmolarity decreased (P<0.05) only for the spring water condition. Serum sodium and chloride concentrations decreased (<2%) at immediately post-DHR for the spring water condition only (P<0.05). Conclusions: These results suggest that ORS intake during exercise decreased muscle cramp susceptibility. It was concluded that ingesting ORS appeared to be effective for preventing EAMC.

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Effects of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation on the Frequency of Skeletal Muscle Cramps: A Prospective Controlled Clinical Trial

Cited by 9 publications

References 29 publications

Water intake after dehydration makes muscles more susceptible to cramp but electrolytes reverse that effect

Water intake after dehydration makes muscles more susceptible to cramp but electrolytes reverse that effect

Muscular cramp: causes and management

Effect of oral rehydration solution versus spring water intake during exercise in the heat on muscle cramp susceptibility of young men

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