Central fatigue during a long-lasting submaximal contraction of the triceps surae

Our purpose was to study central fatigue and its dependence on peripheral reflex inhibition during a sustained submaximal contraction of the triceps surae. In 11 healthy subjects, superimposed twitches, surface electromyograms (EMG) from the medial head of the gastrocnemius (MG) and soleus (SOL) muscles, maximal compound motor action potentials (M(max)), tracking error and tremor were recorded during sustained fatiguing contractions at a torque level corresponding to 30% of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC). When the endurance limit (401+/-91 s) of the voluntary contraction (VC-I) was reached, the triceps surae could be electrically stimulated to the same torque level for an additional 1 min in 10 of the 11 subjects. These subjects were then able to continue the contraction voluntarily (voluntary contraction II, VC-II) for another 85+/-48 s. At the endurance limit of VC-I, the superimposed twitch was larger than during the unfatigued MVC, while there was no significant difference between the twitch at the endurance limit of VC-II and MVC. The EMG amplitude of both MG and SOL at the endurance limit of VC-I was significantly less than that during the MVC. While the EMG amplitude of MG increased further during VC-II, SOL EMG remained unchanged, neither muscle reaching their unfatigued MVC values. This difference was diminished for SOL by taking into account its decrease in M(max) found during VC-II, and relative EMG levels approached their MVC values. These results clearly indicate that a higher voluntary muscle activation was achievable after 1 min of electrical muscle stimulation, which continued metabolic stress and contractile fatigue processes but allowed for supraspinal, muscle spindle and/or motoneuronal recovery. It is concluded that peripheral reflex inhibition of alpha-motoneurons via small-diameter muscle afferents is of minor significance for the development of the central fatigue that was found to occur during the first voluntary contraction

Influence of gastrocnemius muscle length on triceps surae torque development and electromyographic activity in man

The present study was designed to determine the relative contribution of the gastrocnemius muscle to isometric plantar flexor torque production at varying knee angles, while investigating the activation of the gastrocnemius muscle at standardised non-optimal lengths. Voluntary plantar flexor torque, supramaximally stimulated twitch torque and myoelectric activity (EMG) from the triceps surae were measured at different knee angles. Surface and intra-muscular EMG were recorded from the soleus muscle and the medial and lateral heads of the gastrocnemius muscle in 10 male subjects. With the ankle angle held constant, knee angle was changed in steps of 30 degrees ranging from 180 degrees (extended) to 60 degrees (extreme flexion), while voluntary torque from a 5-s contraction was determined at 10 different levels of voluntary effort, ranging from 10% of maximal effort to maximal effort. To assess effort, supramaximal twitches were superimposed on all voluntary contractions, and additionally during rest. Maximal plantar flexor torque and resting twitch torque decreased significantly in a sigmoidal fashion with increasing knee flexion to 60% of the maximum torque at 180 degrees knee angle. For similar levels of voluntary effort, the EMG root mean square (RMS) of gastrocnemius was less with increased knee flexion, whereas soleus RMS remained unchanged. From these data, it is concluded that the contribution of gastrocnemius to plantar flexor torque is at least 40% of the total torque in the straight leg position. The decrease of gastrocnemius EMG RMS with decreasing muscle length may be brought about by a decrease in the number of fibres within the EMG electrode recording volume and/or impaired neuromuscular transmission

Electromyographic responses of the human triceps surae and force tremor during sustained sub‐maximal isometric plantar flexion

The objective was to investigate electromyographic activity (EMG) and isometric force tremor (IFT) changes during a sustained sub-maximal isometric contraction in two muscles acting upon the same joint but differing in muscle fibre composition. Surface and intra-muscular EMG activity from the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles and IFT were recorded during an exhausting isometric plantar flexion (30% of maximal voluntary contraction). Surface EMG amplitude (RMS) of both gastrocnemius and soleus muscles increased significantly over time. Gastrocnemius EMG RMS increased in a non-linear fashion while soleus EMG RMS increased linearly. A significant linear decrease of surface EMG mean power frequency (MPF) was observed over time for both muscles. The decrease in gastrocnemius MPF was significantly greater than that for soleus. Intra-muscular EMG results showed similar trends. Correlations of intramuscular EMG RMS and MPF with time were, however, characterized by lower correlation coefficients than those from the surface EMG. Isometric force tremor RMS significantly increased non-linearly with duration of contraction, while IFT MPF showed a significant linear decrease with time. Changes in surface EMG RMS were correlated to changes seen in IFT RMS, in particular, for the predominantly fast twitch gastrocnemius muscle. Correlation coefficients of surface EMG MPF and IFT MPF were lower than RMS correlations. The associated changes in IFT and EMG with fatigue indicate alterations in motor unit firing rate, recruitment and synchronization. The muscle specificity of the EMG and IFT changes suggests a coupling to muscle fibre type composition, although differences in the relative force contribution of each muscle could also affect the results

Recurrent inhibition of soleus α-motoneurons during a sustained submaximal plantar flexion

During 10 min of sustained isometric plantar flexion at 20% of maximal voluntary contraction, recurrent inhibition of soleus alpha-motoneurons was studied in 9 healthy subjects (age 22-37 years). Recurrent inhibition was brought about by a conditioning H-reflex and assessed by a test H-reflex delivered 10 ms later. The amplitude of the test H-reflex during the tenth minute of the contraction (16.9 +/- 13.2% of the maximal compound motor action potential) was significantly increased as compared to that during the first minute (9.8 +/- 7.6%), while the conditioning H-reflex remained unchanged. Concomitantly, muscle fatigue was evidenced by a significant increase in amplitude of the soleus electromyogram. The increase of the test-H-reflex amplitude implies that a decrease in recurrent inhibition occurred during the sustained submaximal contraction, which contrasts results from studies on maximal voluntary contractions. These results indicate a modulation of soleus Renshaw interneurons, which is likely to serve the purpose of optimising motor unit recruitment and firing rates of this muscle during a sustained submaximal contraction

Excitatory drive to the α-motoneuron pool during a fatiguing submaximal contraction in man

1. This study was undertaken to examine changes of excitatory drive to the triceps surae alpha-motoneuron pool during fatiguing submaximal isometric contractions in man. Eight healthy subjects maintained isometric plantar flexions at 30% of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) until the limit of endurance (range, 6-9 min)

Control of the triceps surae during the postural sway of quiet standing

Aim: The present study investigated how the triceps surae are controlled at the spinal level during the naturally occurring postural sway of quiet standing. Methods: Subjects stood on a force platform as electrical stimuli were applied to the posterior tibial nerve when the center of pressure (COP) was either 1.6 standard deviations anterior (COPant) or posterior (COPpost) to the mean baseline COP signal. Peak-to-peak amplitudes of the H-reflex and M-wave from the soleus (SOL) and medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscles were recorded to assess the efficacy of the la pathway. Results: A significant increase in the H-max : M-max ratio for both the SOL (12 +/- 6%) and MG (23 6%) was observed during the COPant as compared to the COPant condition. The source of the modulation between COP conditions cannot be determined from this study. However, the observed changes in the synaptic efficacy of the Ia pathway are unlikely to be simply a result of an altered level of background electromyographic activity in the triceps surae. This was indicated by the lack of differences observed in the H-max : M-max ratio when subjects stood without postural sway (via the use of a tilt table) at two levels of background activity. Conclusions: It is suggested that the phase-dependent modulation of the triceps surae H-reflexes during the postural sway of quiet standing functions to maintain upright stance and may explain the results from previous studies, which, until now, had not taken the influence of postural sway on the H-reflex into consideration