Acute Effect of Resistance Exercise, Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation, and Transcutaneous Electrical Stimulation Applications on Muscle Activation

The aim of our study is to investigate the effects of single-session resistance exercise, neuromuscular electrical stimulation, and transcutaneous electrical stimulation on the level of muscle activation and their superiority over each other on both the ipsilateral and contralateral sides. Our randomized controlled crossover study included 21 participants (13 female, 8 male, age; 27.7±4). Transcutaneous electrical stimulation was used for sensory input. A single-session application was performed only to the right extremities of all participants, and the acute effects on muscle activation on both the ipsilateral and contralateral sides were evaluated. Muscle activation was evaluated with superficial EMG. SPSS® Statistics V22.0 software was used for statistical analysis. As a result of the statistical analysis, a significant increase in activation was found only in the sensory input application group on the ipsilateral side flexor carpi radialis (FCR) (p=0.001), flexor carpi ulnaris (FCU) (p<0.001), flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) (p=0.023) and flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) (p=0.003) muscles. On the contralateral side, there was an increase in activation in all muscles (FCR; p<0.001, FCU; p=0.033, FDS; p=0.017 and FDP; p=0.001) in the resistant exercise group. In addition, there was a significant increase in the activation of certain muscles on the contralateral side in the NMES application group (FCR (p=0.049) and FDP (p=0.016) muscles) and the sensory input application group (FDP (p=0.004) and FDS (p=0.043) muscles). In situations where movement is contraindicated, ipsilateral sensory input can increase the level of muscle activation through both cortical and peripheral neural mechanisms.In addition, resistance exercise to be performed on the contralateral side can be an effective application to increase muscle activation on the ipsilateral side.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Motor Activity
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Physiotherapy

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 21
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Turkey
  • Çiğli
    • İzmir, Çiğli, Turkey
      • Barış SEVEN

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• After providing detailed information about the study, individuals who had agreed to participate in the research were included in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Individuals with any central or peripheral nervous system disease/injury affecting the upper extremity,
• Individuals with a history of orthopedic injury that could impact the study,
• Individuals with a history of neuromuscular disease, congenital anomalies, skin infections, or cognitive impairments,
• Individuals with a history of systemic or metabolic diseases that could potentially affect the study,
• Individuals with a body mass index (BMI) above 30 kg/m2.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control; No intervention
Experimental: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation	Other: Physiotherapy; Resistance exercise, Neuromuscular electrical stimulation, and Transcutaneous electrical stimulation
Experimental: Resistance exercise	Other: Physiotherapy; Resistance exercise, Neuromuscular electrical stimulation, and Transcutaneous electrical stimulation
Experimental: Transcutaneous electrical stimulation	Other: Physiotherapy; Resistance exercise, Neuromuscular electrical stimulation, and Transcutaneous electrical stimulation

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Superficial electromyography	Muscle activation measurement	through study completion, an average of 1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Gazi University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 1, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): January 1, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 7, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 27, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): August 30, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 30, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 27, 2023
• Last Verified: August 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: EMGHealthy

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No