Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 6, 2026
Paradigms of Lower Extremity Electrical Stimulation Training After Spinal Cord Injury
Published on: February 1, 2018
Wide-pulse-high-frequency neuromuscular electrical stimulation in cerebral palsy
D Neyroud1, S Armand2, G De Coulon3
1Institute of Sport Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Department of Physiology, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Institute of Movement Sciences and Sports Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
Objective:
The present study assesses whether wide-pulse-high-frequency (WPHF) neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) could result in extra-force production in cerebral palsy (CP) patients as previously observed in healthy individuals.
Methods:
Ten CP and 10 age- and sex-matched control participants underwent plantar flexors NMES. Two to three 10-s WPHF (frequency: 100 Hz, pulse duration: 1 ms) and conventional (CONV, frequency 25 Hz, pulse duration: 50 μs) trains as well as two to three burst-like stimulation trains (2s at 25 Hz, 2s at 100 Hz, 2s at 25 Hz; pulse duration: 1 ms) were evoked. Resting soleus and gastrocnemii maximal H-reflex amplitude (Hmax) was normalized by maximal M-wave amplitude (Mmax) to quantify α-motoneuron modulation.
Results:
Similar Hmax/Mmax ratio was found in CP and control participants. Extra-force generation was observed both in CP (+18 ± 74%) and control individuals (+94 ± 124%) during WPHF (p<0.05). Similar extra-forces were found during burst-like stimulations in both groups (+108 ± 110% in CP and +65 ± 85% in controls, p>0.05).
Conclusion:
Although the mechanisms underlying extra-force production may differ between WPHF and burst-like NMES, similar increases were observed in patients with CP and healthy controls.
Significance:
Development of extra-forces in response to WPHF NMES evoked at low stimulation intensity might open new possibilities in neuromuscular rehabilitation.
Related Concept Videos
01:22Muscle Stimulation Frequency
Wave summation
At low firing rates, motor neurons induce individual twitch contractions in muscle fibers. These twitches...
01:20Motor Unit Stimulation
The latent period of contraction marks the onset of excitation-contraction coupling, when the action potential propagates across the sarcolemma, preparing the muscle fibers for contraction. As the fibers enter the contraction phase, the...