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Updated: Apr 28, 2026

Assessment of Neuromuscular Function Using Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation
Published on: September 13, 2015
Twitch potentiation induced by two different modalities of neuromuscular electrical stimulation: implications for
Sarah Regina Dias Da Silva1, Daria Neyroud, Nicola A Maffiuletti
1School of Physical Education and Sport, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
Introduction:
We tested the hypothesis that twitch potentiation would be greater following conventional (CONV) neuromuscular electrical stimulation (50-µs pulse width and 25-Hz frequency) compared with wide-pulse high-frequency (WPHF) neuromuscular electrical stimulation (1-ms, 100-Hz) and voluntary (VOL) contractions, because of specificities in motor unit recruitment (random in CONV vs. random and orderly in WPHF vs. orderly in VOL).
Methods:
A single twitch was evoked by means of tibial nerve stimulation before and 2 s after CONV, WPHF, and VOL conditioning contractions of the plantar flexors (intensity: 10% maximal voluntary contraction; duration: 10 s) in 13 young healthy subjects.
Results:
Peak twitch increased (P<0.05) after CONV (+4.5±4.0%) and WPHF (+3.3±5.9%), with no difference between the 2 modalities, whereas no changes were observed after VOL (+0.8±2.6%).
Conclusions:
Our results demonstrate that presumed differences in motor unit recruitment between WPHF and CONV do not seem to influence twitch potentiation results.
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