Sustained Compression with a Pneumatic Cuff on Skeletal Muscles Promotes Muscle Blood Flow and Relieves Muscle Stiffness

Nakajima, Michiko; Tsuro, Tomoka; Endo, Akemi

doi:10.3390/ijerph19031692

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 13 publications

(15 reference statements)

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“…In line with our hypothesis, Chiu et al [10] validated FSN effectiveness in reducing skeletal muscle hardness around the knee and alleviating knee pain, Nakajima [11,12] demonstrated that increasing blood flow and reducing stiffness in lower limb muscles could relieve knee pain. Building on this, considering the physiological heterogeneity in individual muscles, a self-controlled before-and-after study design with unilateral knee osteoarthritis (KOA) patients was deemed most suitable for our small-sample exploratory pilot trial.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Understanding tightened muscle in knee osteoarthritis and the impacts of Fu’s subcutaneous needling: A pilot trial with shear-wave elastography and near-infrared spectroscopy

Yang,

Wang,

Sun

2024

Medicine

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Background: Given the scarce reports on the interplay between Fu’s subcutaneous needling (FSN), tightened muscle, and therapeutic effects, we developed a clinical research protocol to synchronously collect data on clinical efficacy and muscle characteristics in patients with knee osteoarthritis, exploring the mechanism of FSN action. The primary aim was to assess the feasibility and safety of this protocol, guiding future trials and their sample size calculations. Methods: In this prospective, single-blind, self-controlled study, 19 patients with early to mid-stage unilateral knee osteoarthritis underwent FSN therapy on both knees over 1 week (4 sessions, every other day). We measured local elastic modulus, muscle thickness, blood flow volume, and oxygen consumption rate of bilateral vastus lateralis muscles using shear-wave elastography and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) before and after the first and fourth treatments. Additionally, real-time NIRS indicators (oxygenated hemoglobin [O2Hb], deoxyhemoglobin [HHb], total hemoglobin [THb], and tissue saturation index [TSI]) were recorded during these treatments. Pain intensity (visual analogue scale [VAS]), functional status (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index [WOMAC]), and active range of motion were evaluated before these treatments. Results: All 19 participants completed the trial without serious adverse events. After 3 FSN treatments, significant changes were observed in VAS and WOMAC scores (VAS: P < .001; WOMAC: P < .001), and knee flexion (P < .001) and external rotation (P = .02), except for internal rotation. No meaningful significant differences were observed in muscle characteristics at baseline or between pre- and post-treatment periods. NIRS results during treatments indicated significant increases in local O2Hb and THb post-FSN therapy (First treatment: O2Hb: P = .005; THb: P = .006. Fourth treatment: O2Hb: P = .002; THb: P = .004); however, no significant increases were observed for HHb (First treatment: P = .06; Fourth treatment: P = .28). No linear correlation was found between therapeutic effects and changes in tightened muscle indices. Conclusion: FSN reduces pain and improves joint function in knee osteoarthritis, while also enhancing blood flow and oxygenation in the vastus lateralis muscle of the affected side. Further revisions of this protocol are warranted based on our insights.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Understanding tightened muscle in knee osteoarthritis and the impacts of Fu’s subcutaneous needling: A pilot trial with shear-wave elastography and near-infrared spectroscopy

Yang,

Wang,

Sun

2024

Medicine

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Using nonlinear dynamics analysis to evaluate time response of cupping therapy with different intervention timings on reducing muscle fatigue

Jia,

Liu,

Lei

et al. 2024

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

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BackgroundCupping therapy has been indicated effective in reducing muscle fatigue after 24 h based on the spectral analyses of surface electromyography (sEMG). However, there is no sufficient evidence showing changes of sEMG nonlinear indexes at more time points after cupping therapy. Furthermore, it is unclear whether the intervention timings of cupping therapy affect the recovery from muscle fatigue. The purpose of this study was to use the sEMG nonlinear analysis to assess the difference of time response of cupping therapy between different intervention timings after muscle fatigue.Materials and methodsThis randomized controlled trial recruited 26 healthy volunteers. Cupping therapy (−300 mmHg pressure for 5 min by the 45 mm-diameter cup) was applied before (i.e., pre-condition) or after (i.e., post-condition) muscle fatigue induced by performing repeated biceps curls at 75% of the 10 repetitions of maximum (RM) on the non-dominant upper extremity. Subjects were randomly allocated to the pre-condition group or the post-condition group. The sEMG signals during the maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVC) of the biceps were recorded at four time points (i.e., baseline; post 1: immediate after cupping-fatigue/fatigue-cupping interventions; post 2: 3 h after cupping-fatigue/fatigue-cupping interventions; post 3: 6 h after cupping-fatigue/fatigue-cupping interventions). Two nonlinear sEMG indexes (sample entropy, SampEn; and percent determinism based on recurrence quantification analysis, %DET) were used to evaluate the recovery from exercise-introduced muscle fatigue. The Friedman test followed by the Nemenyi test and the Mann-Whitney U test were applied in statistics.ResultsThe SampEn and %DET change rate did not show any significant differences at four time points in the pre-condition group. However, there were significant delayed effects instead of immediate effects on improving muscle fatigue in the post-condition group (SampEn change rate: baseline 0.0000 ± 0.0000 vs. post 2 0.1105 ± 0.2253, p < 0.05; baseline 0.0000 ± 0.0000 vs. post 3 0.0627 ± 0.4665, p < 0.05; post 1–0.0321 ± 0.2668 vs. post 3 0.0627 ± 0.4665, p < 0.05; and %DET change rate: baseline 0.0000 ± 0.0000 vs. post 2–0.1240 ± 0.1357, p < 0.01; baseline 0.0000 ± 0.0000 vs. post 3 0.0704 ± 0.6495, p < 0.05; post 1 0.0700 ± 0.3819 vs. post 3 0.0704 ± 0.6495, p < 0.05). Moreover, the SampEn change rate of the post-condition group (0.1105 ± 0.2253) was significantly higher than that of the pre-condition group (0.0006 ± 0.0634, p < 0.05) at the post 2 time point. No more significant between-groups difference was found in this study.ConclusionThis is the first study demonstrating that both the pre-condition and post-condition of cupping therapy are useful for reducing muscle fatigue. The post-condition cupping therapy can e ffectively alleviate exercise-induced muscle fatigue and there is a significant delayed effect, especially 3 h after the interventions. Although the pre-condition cupping therapy can not significantly enhance muscle manifestations, it can recover muscles into a non-fatigued state.

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Sustained Compression with a Pneumatic Cuff on Skeletal Muscles Promotes Muscle Blood Flow and Relieves Muscle Stiffness

Cited by 2 publications

References 13 publications

Understanding tightened muscle in knee osteoarthritis and the impacts of Fu’s subcutaneous needling: A pilot trial with shear-wave elastography and near-infrared spectroscopy

Understanding tightened muscle in knee osteoarthritis and the impacts of Fu’s subcutaneous needling: A pilot trial with shear-wave elastography and near-infrared spectroscopy

Using nonlinear dynamics analysis to evaluate time response of cupping therapy with different intervention timings on reducing muscle fatigue

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