Song Qipeng, Sun Mengzi, Lewis Kelsey, Choi Jung Hun, Manor Brad, Li Li
Biomechanics Laboratory, College of Sports and Health, Shandong Sport University, Jinan, China.
Department of Health Sciences and Kinesiology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, United States.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2022 Mar 11;14:800698. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.800698. eCollection 2022.
Peripheral neuropathy (PN) affects up to 20% of the population over the age of 60. Hoffmann reflex (H-reflex) may assess PN adaptation by measuring the function of the peripheral neural system and central nervous system (CNS) modulation. This project aimed to find a reliable muscle among triceps surae muscles during standing and walking among the PN population.
Sixteen older adults (> 65 years of age) diagnosed with PN were recruited in this study. The H-reflex test was conducted on the muscle belly of the soleus (SOL), the medial (MG), and lateral gastrocnemius (LG) during standing and walking (heel contact, midstance, and toe-off phases). All measurements were collected on two occasions, separated by at least 7 days. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and their confidence intervals (CIs) were used to examine the consistency of the H-reflex outcome variables in the repeated tests for all three tested muscles.
The ICCs of H-index during standing and the three walking phases were poor to moderate in SOL (0.486∼0.737) and MG (0.221∼0.768), and moderate to high in LG (0.713∼0.871). The ICCs of H/M ratio were poor to moderate in SOL (0.263∼0.702) and MG (0.220∼0.733), and high in LG (0.856∼0.958).
The H-reflex of LG was more reliable than SOL and MG during standing and walking among older adults with peripheral neuropathy. It is crucial for future studies in this population to study H-reflex of LG, not SOL and MG, for more reliable results.
周围神经病变（PN）影响着高达20%的60岁以上人群。霍夫曼反射（H反射）可通过测量外周神经系统功能和中枢神经系统（CNS）调节来评估PN适应性。本项目旨在找出PN人群站立和行走时比目鱼肌中的一块可靠肌肉。
本研究招募了16名被诊断为PN的老年人（年龄>65岁）。在站立和行走（足跟触地、支撑中期和足趾离地阶段）期间，对比目鱼肌（SOL）、内侧腓肠肌（MG）和外侧腓肠肌（LG）的肌腹进行H反射测试。所有测量均在两个时间点进行，间隔至少7天。组内相关系数（ICC）及其置信区间（CI）用于检验所有三块受试肌肉重复测试中H反射结果变量的一致性。
站立和三个行走阶段的H指数ICC在SOL（0.486∼0.737）和MG（0.221∼0.768）中为低到中度，在LG（0.713∼0.871）中为中度到高度。H/M比值的ICC在SOL（0.263∼0.702）和MG（0.220∼0.733）中为低到中度，在LG（0.856∼0.958）中为高度。
在患有周围神经病变的老年人站立和行走期间，LG的H反射比SOL和MG更可靠。对于该人群未来的研究而言，研究LG而非SOL和MG的H反射以获得更可靠的结果至关重要。
