Quadriceps function assessment using an incremental test and magnetic neurostimulation: A reliability study

The assessment of neuromuscular fatigue during 120 min of simulated soccer exercise

“…An excellent level of reliability was evident for measures of neuromuscular function pre-exercise (Table 2), which is in line with the previous work from our laboratory (Goodall et al 2015b;Thomas et al 2015), and importantly, enabled us to detect significant changes throughout the soccer-specific exercise. Similar reliability coefficients have been demonstrated in unfatigued states for both upper (Lee et al 2008;Madsen 1996;Taylor et al 1996) and lower limb (Amann et al 2013;Bachasson et al 2013;Place et al 2007;Todd et al 2004) muscle groups, but the reliability of the fatigue response following locomotor exercise is unknown. The fatigue response was consistent across repeated trials of the SMS, though the variability in the response tended to increase with exercise duration, with most variable responses found at the ET assessment point.…”

“…Due to there being no preferred, or single statistical approach, the evaluation of measurement reliability is somewhat problematic (Hopkins 2000). In this regard, and in line with other investigations evaluating reliability of responses from the knee-extensors (Bachasson et al 2013;Rainoldi et al 2001), we used two approaches to evaluate measurement reliability, the CV and ICC, which provide an absolute and relative assessment, respectively. An excellent level of reliability was evident for measures of neuromuscular function pre-exercise (Table 2), which is in line with the previous work from our laboratory (Goodall et al 2015b;Thomas et al 2015), and importantly, enabled us to detect significant changes throughout the soccer-specific exercise.…”

Skeletal muscle contractility and fatigability in adults with cystic fibrosis

“…All measurements were performed on the right leg under isometric conditions, as previously described [11]. Briefly, subjects laid supine in a custom-built chair with knees at 90°of flexion and the hip angle at 130°.…”

“…We recently developed an isolated muscle exercise test which combines voluntary and magnetically-evoked contractions [11]. This test permits to evaluate kinetics of changes in peripheral and central mechanisms of fatigue in a large muscle group (i.e., quadriceps) and limits the influence of motivational factors using progressive loading, non-volitional contractions and multiple assessments.…”

“…This test permits to evaluate kinetics of changes in peripheral and central mechanisms of fatigue in a large muscle group (i.e., quadriceps) and limits the influence of motivational factors using progressive loading, non-volitional contractions and multiple assessments. This test is reliable [11] and sensitive to small differences in muscle contractility and fatigability [11,12]. We hypothesized that CF adults would have altered resting muscle contractility, even when normalized to muscle crosssectional area, and increased muscle fatigability due to exaggerated alterations in excitation-contraction coupling, as compared to age, sex and habitual PA-matched healthy controls.…”