The effect of low frequency fatigue on endurance exercise in the sternomastoid muscle of normal humans.

It is not certain to what extent low frequency fatigue affects the performance of a muscle. We studied the endurance capacity of the sternomastoid muscle to undergo repetitive isometric neck flexion contractions for 2 s every 4 s at 35% of its maximal voluntary contraction force (MVC) in 5 normal subjects starting with different levels of fatigue. The endurance time, the duration the subjects were able to achieve the target force before exhaustion, was measured in each subject on 3 occasions: Study 1: in the fresh state, with a normal frequency/force curve and 20:50 ratio (ratio of force response at 20 Hz to that at 50 Hz) before the start of the endurance exercise; Study 2: with a moderately reduced 20:50 ratio before the start of endurance exercise (mean +/- SEM reduction in 20:50 ratio 11.4 +/- 0.8%); Study 3: with a substantially reduced 20:50 ratio before the start of the endurance exercise (29.2 +/- 3.7%). These reductions in 20:50 ratio were produced by the subjects performing 150 isometric neck flexion contractions at 50% of their MVC, followed by a period of rest to allow the 20:50 ratio to recover to approximately 10% of the starting value in Study 2, and to within 20 to 40% of the starting value in Study 3. Endurance exercise was then carried out.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)