Muscle damage induced by electrical stimulation

Kazunori Nosaka*, Abdulaziz Aldayel, Marc Jubeau, Trevor C. Chen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

85 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Electrical stimulation (ES) induces muscle damage that is characterised by histological alterations of muscle fibres and connective tissue, increases in circulating creatine kinase (CK) activity, decreases in muscle strength and development of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Muscle damage is induced not only by eccentric contractions with ES but also by isometric contractions evoked by ES. Muscle damage profile following 40 isometric contractions of the knee extensors is similar between pulsed current (75 Hz, 400 μs) and alternating current (2.5 kHz delivered at 75 Hz, 400 μs) ES for similar force output. When comparing maximal voluntary and ES-evoked (75 Hz, 200 μs) 50 isometric contractions of the elbow flexors, ES results in greater decreases in maximal voluntary contraction strength, increases in plasma CK activity and DOMS. It appears that the magnitude of muscle damage induced by ES-evoked isometric contractions is comparable to that induced by maximal voluntary eccentric contractions, although the volume of affected muscles in ES is not as large as that of eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage. It seems likely that the muscle damage in ES is associated with high mechanical stress on the activated muscle fibres due to the specificity of motor unit recruitment (i.e., non-selective, synchronous and spatially fixed manner). The magnitude of muscle damage induced by ES is significantly reduced when the second ES bout is performed 2-4 weeks later. It is possible to attenuate the magnitude of muscle damage by "pre-conditioning" muscles, so that muscle damage should not limit the use of ES in training and rehabilitation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2427-2437
Number of pages11
JournalEuropean Journal of Applied Physiology
Volume111
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011 Oct
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Creatine kinase
  • Delayed onset muscle soreness
  • Eccentric
  • Elbow flexors
  • Electrostimulation
  • Isometric
  • Knee extensors
  • Muscle strength
  • Repeated bout effect

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Physiology (medical)

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