Reliability of a simple method for determining muscle fiber conduction velocity
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Published on: February 19, 2020
Kyle C D McIntosh1, David A Gabriel
1Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Brock University, 500 Glenridge Avenue, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada.
Introduction:
This study evaluated the reliability of muscle fiber conduction velocity (MFCV) measurement.
Methods:
Forty healthy, young participants performed isometric dorsiflexion of the foot on 3 non-consecutive days. The reliability of force, root-mean-square (RMS) amplitude of the surface electromyographic (sEMG) signal, and MFCV were evaluated using the intraclass correlational analysis of variance technique.
Results:
The means across test days for all measures exhibited slight changes (<5%) and were considered stable. All measures exhibited remarkable consistency within subjects as indicated by high intraclass correlation coefficients (0.83-0.98).
Conclusions:
The procedures resulted in highly reliable MFCV values, and included: (1) electric identification of motor points prior to electrode placement; (2) twitch identification of muscle fiber orientation to guide initial electrode placement; (3) rotation of electrodes clockwise or counter-clockwise to maximize the similarity and delay of compound muscle action potentials across all detection surfaces; and (4) minimization of synergistic activity during voluntary contractions.
