Box Devin, Cohen Joshua W, Ivanova Tanya D, Jenkins Mary, Christie Anita, Garland S Jayne
School of Kinesiology, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
Faculty of Health Sciences, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
Physiol Rep. 2025 Sep;13(18):e70520. doi: 10.14814/phy2.70520.
The purpose of the study was to determine if sensory electrical stimulation (SES), below motor threshold, would reduce spinal excitability via reciprocal inhibition (RI) and determine if any changes were sex-related. Eighteen healthy participants (11 males and 7 females) participated in a pre-post comparison study. The Hoffmann (H-) reflex was elicited to assess the spinal excitability of Flexor Carpi Radialis (FCR) and the influence of RI from Extensor Carpi Radialis Longus (ECRL) on FCR using a paired conditioning pulse paradigm. A 15-min bout of SES (4 pulse bursts at 100 Hz) was applied to ECRL, and the H-reflexes were measured at 0- and 20-min post SES. A linear mixed model regression analysis was performed to evaluate the effects of stimulus order, conditioning, sex, and time on the FCR H-reflex. All participants experienced RI from the conditioning pulses, with females having significantly greater suppression than males (mean difference; MD = 0.026). For males, SES produced a depression in FCR excitability (MD = 0.023 at time 0; MD = 0.015 at 20 min post-SES) with no changes in RI. SES had no effect on FCR excitability or RI in females. The potential for SES to produce changes in antagonist excitability was sex-related, which may have important rehabilitation considerations.
该研究的目的是确定低于运动阈值的感觉电刺激（SES）是否会通过交互抑制（RI）降低脊髓兴奋性，并确定是否存在与性别相关的变化。18名健康参与者（11名男性和7名女性）参与了一项前后对照研究。通过使用配对条件脉冲范式，引出霍夫曼（H-）反射来评估桡侧腕屈肌（FCR）的脊髓兴奋性以及桡侧腕长伸肌（ECRL）对FCR的RI影响。对ECRL施加15分钟的SES（100Hz的4个脉冲串），并在SES后0分钟和20分钟测量H反射。进行线性混合模型回归分析以评估刺激顺序、条件作用、性别和时间对FCR H反射的影响。所有参与者都经历了条件脉冲引起的RI，女性的抑制作用明显大于男性（平均差异；MD = 0.026）。对于男性，SES使FCR兴奋性降低（SES后0分钟时MD = 0.023；SES后20分钟时MD = 0.015），而RI没有变化。SES对女性的FCR兴奋性或RI没有影响。SES引起拮抗肌兴奋性变化的可能性与性别相关，这可能在康复方面有重要的考虑因素。
