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. 2008 Mar;102(4):439-46.
doi: 10.1007/s00421-007-0604-7. Epub 2007 Nov 3.

Modulation in voluntary neural drive in relation to muscle soreness

S Racinais  1 , A Bringard, K Puchaux, T D Noakes, S Perrey
Affiliations

Modulation in voluntary neural drive in relation to muscle soreness

S Racinais et al. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2008 Mar.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate whether (1) spinal modulation would change after non-exhausting eccentric exercise of the plantar flexor muscles that produced muscle soreness and (2) central modulation of the motor command would be linked to the development of muscle soreness. Ten healthy subjects volunteered to perform a single bout of backward downhill walking exercise (duration 30 min, velocity 1 ms(-1), negative grade -25%, load 12% of body weight). Neuromuscular test sessions [H-reflex, M-wave, maximal voluntary torque (MVT)] were performed before, immediately after, as well as 1-3 days after the exercise bout. Immediately after exercise there was a -15% decrease in MVT of the plantar flexors partly attributable to an alteration in contractile properties (-23% in electrically evoked mechanical twitch). However, MVT failed to recover before the third day whereas the contractile properties had significantly recovered within the first day. This delayed recovery of MVT was likely related to a decrement in voluntary muscle drive. The decrease in voluntary activation occurred in the absence of any variation in spinal modulation estimated from the H-reflex. Our findings suggest the development of a supraspinal modulation perhaps linked to the presence of muscle soreness.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Experimental design. Thin arrow indicates stimulation at Hmax intensity, simple thick arrow indicates stimulation at Mmax intensity, double thick arrow indicates doublet at Mmax intensity
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Evolution of voluntary torque (a), voluntary activation (b), electrically evoked peak twitch (c) and subjective delayed onset muscle soreness (d, black rectangle: analogic visual scale, white rectangle: Lickert scale) across the experimental sessions. Data in mean ± SEM, Asteriskindicates value or group of values significantly different from the other values of the graph (P < 0.05)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Example of evoked potentials recorded in a representative subject. Each drawing represents the average of three recordings obtained on a relaxed muscle
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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