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Effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation on results of the twitch interpolation technique
1Neuromuscular Research Group, Department of Orthopedics, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Leipziger Strasse 44, D-39120 Magdeburg, Germany. dietmar.urbach@medizin.uni-magdeburg.de
Abstract:
To investigate whether transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has an effect on isometric muscle force elicited by maximal voluntary contractions (MVC) and the ability to activate a muscle voluntarily (VA, as a percentage of full muscle activation), a twitch-interpolation technique was applied on the quadriceps femoris muscles of six volunteers before and within 1 min after TMS. VA improved by 5% (P = 0.019) and MVC by 17% (P = 0.002), whereas these parameters were unchanged in a control experiment. The results suggest that TMS has an effect on the central motor drive, at least within 1 min after stimulation.