Pain reduction method in recording F-waves from the vastus lateralis muscle

Conventional recording of F-waves from the vastus lateralis muscle causes severe pain in some subjects. Thus, we aimed to investigate the effects of the stimulation frequency on pain and F-wave parameters when recording F-waves from this muscle and to develop a method for recording F-waves from the vastus lateralis muscle that causes minimal pain.

The subject's femoral nerve was electrically stimulated at 0.5 or 0.2 Hz 30 times, while F-waves were recorded from the vastus lateralis muscle. Pain intensity was measured immediately using a visual analog scale. In addition, the visual analog scale, F-wave persistence, F-wave latency, and F/M amplitude ratio were compared between F-wave recordings with 0.5-Hz electrical stimulation and those with 0.2-Hz electrical stimulation.

Eleven healthy men participated in this study. The visual analog scale and F-wave persistence decreased when electrical stimulation at 0.2 Hz was applied compared with electrical stimulation at 0.5 Hz.

Electrical stimulation at 0.5 Hz increased pain due to temporal summation. However, electrical stimulation at 0.2 Hz did not cause temporal summation, suggesting reduced pain and excitability of the alpha motor neuron pool.