Perceived Discomfort and Voluntary Activation of Quadriceps Muscle Assessed with Interpolated Paired or Triple Electrical Stimuli

Petra Prevc, Nina Misotic, Igor Stirn and Katja Tomazin ()
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Petra Prevc: Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Nina Misotic: Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Igor Stirn: Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Katja Tomazin: Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 6, 1-10

Abstract: Voluntary drive of the exercising muscle is usually assessed with the interpolated twitch technique (ITT), using paired supramaximal electrical stimuli. The aim of this study was to directly compare voluntary activation (VA) of the quadriceps muscle (QM) measured with the ITT, using paired and triple electrical stimuli during maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC). In addition, perceived discomfort was compared with the use of paired and triple electrical stimuli during ITT. Ten healthy participants (23.6 ± 1.6 years) were included. They performed four MVIC, with paired or triple stimuli, in random order. MVIC torque, superimposed evoked torque, evoked torque at rest, VA, and visual analogue scale for pain (VAS-pain), were analysed. The amplitude of the triplet-evoked torque was higher than doublet-evoked torque, i.e., the signal-to-noise ratio increased. However, the differences between the estimation of VA with paired and triple stimuli were not significant ( p = 0.136). Triple stimuli yielded higher VAS-pain scores than paired stimuli ( p = 0.016). The limits of agreement for the VA using the Bland–Altman method were 7.66/0.629. It seems that the use of additional electrical stimuli is not a recommended solution for the evaluation of VA, because the advantages (i.e., better signal-to-noise ratio) do not outweigh the disadvantages (i.e., an increase in pain).

Keywords: interpolated twitch technique; femoral nerve stimulation; knee extension; variability; reliability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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