Graduate Institute of Athletics and Coaching Science, College of Athletics, National Taiwan Sport University, 250, Wen-Hwa 1st Rd., Kweishan, Taoyuan 33301, Taiwan.
College of Exercise & Health Sciences, National Taiwan Sport University, 250, Wen-Hwa 1st Rd., Kweishan, Taoyuan 33301, Taiwan.
Biomed Res Int. 2020 Mar 23;2020:7436274. doi: 10.1155/2020/7436274. eCollection 2020.
This study is aimed at investigating the effect of low-intensity electrical stimulation on the voluntary activation level (VA) and the cortical facilitation/inhibition of quadriceps in people with chronic anterior cruciate ligament lesion.
Twenty former athletes with unilateral ACL deficiencies (ACL group) and 20 healthy subjects (healthy control group) participated in the study. The quadriceps VA level, motor-evoked potential (MEP), short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI), and intracortical facilitation (ICF) elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation were tested before and after 30 minutes of low-intensity electrical stimulation (ES).
Before ES, the quadriceps VA in the ACL lesion legs of the ACL group was lower compared to the legs of the healthy control group ( < 0.05). The MEP sizes in the ACL lesion legs and the healthy control were not significantly different. The ACL lesion legs showed lower SICI and higher ICF compared to the healthy control group ( < 0.05). After ES, the quadriceps VA level increased and the SICI-ICF was modulated only in the ACL lesion legs ( < 0.05) but not in the healthy controls.
Low-intensity ES can normalize the modulation of intracortical inhibition and facilitation, thereby ameliorating the activation failure in individuals with ACL lesion.
本研究旨在探讨低强度电刺激对慢性前交叉韧带损伤患者股四头肌自主激活水平（VA）和皮质兴奋/抑制的影响。
20 名单侧前交叉韧带缺陷的前运动员（ACL 组）和 20 名健康受试者（健康对照组）参与了这项研究。使用经颅磁刺激测试股四头肌 VA 水平、运动诱发电位（MEP）、短程抑制性内抑制（SICI）和皮质内易化（ICF），并在 30 分钟低强度电刺激（ES）前后进行测试。
在 ES 之前，ACL 组 ACL 损伤腿的股四头肌 VA 低于健康对照组（<0.05）。ACL 损伤腿和健康对照组的 MEP 大小没有明显差异。ACL 损伤腿的 SICI 和 ICF 均低于健康对照组（<0.05）。ES 后，股四头肌 VA 水平增加，仅在 ACL 损伤腿中调节 SICI-ICF（<0.05），而在健康对照组中则没有。
低强度 ES 可以使皮质内抑制和易化的调节正常化，从而改善 ACL 损伤患者的激活失败。
