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Establishing between-session reliability of TMS-conditioned soleus H-reflexes
W A Gray1, M J Sabatier1, T M Kesar1
1Division of Physical Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Emory University,1441 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30322 USA.
Neuroscience Letters
|January 18, 2017
Summary
This study found that short-latency facilitation (SLF) and long-latency facilitation (LLF) measures show moderate-to-good reliability for assessing corticomotor influences on spinal reflex excitability across multiple sessions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Motor Control
- Human Physiology
Background:
- Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is used to probe corticomotor excitability.
- The Hoffman reflex (H-reflex) assesses spinal reflex excitability.
- Modulating the H-reflex with TMS can reveal descending influences on the spinal cord.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the between-session reliability of measures evaluating corticomotor influences on soleus H-reflex excitability.
- To assess the reliability of active motor threshold (AMT), unconditioned H-reflexes, and conditioned H-reflexes (SLF and LLF).
Main Methods:
- Thirteen healthy adults participated in four testing sessions.
- Measures included active motor threshold (AMT), unconditioned H-reflex, short-latency facilitation (SLF), and long-latency facilitation (LLF).
- Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) quantified between-session reliability.
Main Results:
- Excellent reliability was found for AMT (ICC=0.95).
- Moderate reliability was observed for unconditioned H-reflexes (ICC=0.63).
- Short-latency facilitation (SLF) showed higher reliability (ICC=0.71) than long-latency facilitation (LLF) (ICC=0.45).
Conclusions:
- Short-latency facilitation (SLF) and long-latency facilitation (LLF) demonstrate moderate-to-good reliability for assessing cortical influences on spinal reflex excitability.
- These findings support the use of TMS-H-reflex techniques for reliable evaluation of descending motor control in able-bodied individuals across multiple sessions.
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