Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 8, 2026
Bilateral Assessment of the Corticospinal Pathways of the Ankle Muscles Using Navigated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Published on: February 19, 2019
Corticospinal excitability changes following blood flow restriction training of the tibialis anterior: a preliminary
Erhard Trillingsgaard Næss-Schmidt1, Morten Morthorst1, Asger Roer Pedersen1
1Hammel Neurorehabilitation and Research Center, Aarhus University, 15 Voldbyvej, 8450 Hammel, Denmark.
Aim:
To examine the neural excitability of projections to the tibialis anterior (TA) following blood flow restriction training (BFRT). This is the first study to examine the TA following BFRT.
Methods:
Ten subjects performed each experiment. Experiment one consisted of BFRT at 130 mmHg (BFRT-low). Experiment two consisted of BFRT at 200 mmHg (BFRT-high), training (TR-only) and blood flow restriction at 200 mmHg (BFR-only) performed on separate days. Blood flow restriction was applied to the thigh and training consisted of rapid dorsiflexion contractions against gravity every 10 s for 15-min. The motor evoked potential (MEP) peak-to-peak amplitudes were recorded pre-intervention and 1-, 10-, 20- and 30-min post-intervention and expressed relative to the maximal peak-to-peak M-wave at each time-point.
Results:
Experiment one revealed no difference in MEP amplitudes for BFRT-low over time (P = 0.09). Experiment two revealed a significant effect of time (P < 0.001), with 1-min post-intervention MEP amplitudes significantly facilitated compared to pre-intervention, but no effect of intervention (P = 0.79) or intervention*time interaction (P = 0.25). Post-hoc power calculations were performed for the intervention*time interaction.
Discussion And Conclusions:
Corticospinal excitability of projections to the TA did not change following BFRT-low and corticospinal excitability changes between BFRT-high, BFR-only and TR-only interventions were not different over time. In experiment two, there was a significant main effect of time 1-min post-intervention which was mainly due to the BFRT-high intervention. Post-hoc power calculations revealed that 15 subjects were required for a significant interaction effect 80% of the time however, as the changes in corticospinal excitability were not prolonged, a new dataset of ≥ 15 subjects was not acquired.
