Assessment of voluntary activation, atrophy, fatigability and contralateral associated contractions of the first dorsal interosseous muscle after incomplete cervical spinal cord injury.

Teunissen, A. (Anoek) (2009) Assessment of voluntary activation, atrophy, fatigability and contralateral associated contractions of the first dorsal interosseous muscle after incomplete cervical spinal cord injury. thesis, Human Movement Sciences.

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Abstract

Introduction After incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI), damage to the spinal neurons leads to a decreased muscle function below the lesion. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the voluntary activation, total force capacity (indicator for atrophy), fatigability and contralateral associated contractions of the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle, an intrinsic hand muscle, in incomplete SCI subjects (n = 4). Methods Force and EMG were measured during abduction contractions of the left and right hand FDI muscle. The twitch interpolation technique was used during maximal and submaximal contractions to measure voluntary and evoked muscle force. Rest twitches were evoked after fatiguing contractions. SCI subjects with unimpaired hand function (n = 7) and able-bodied subjects (n = 1 0) were used as control groups. Results The left and right index finger maximal forces were significantly lower for the incomplete SCI group compared to controls (p<0.05), and the twitch forces during maximal forces were significantly larger (p<0.05). Nevertheless, the total force capacity was comparable for all groups. The force and EMG decline during fatiguing contractions was similar for all groups, but incomplete SCI subjects showed larger twitch forces afterwards (p:S 0.05). There was a large variation in contralateral associated force and EMG for both SCI groups. Conclusions Comparable total force capacity indicated that muscle atrophy was not evident in the FDI muscle of incomplete SCI subjects, despite the lower voluntary activation. All subjects showed a force decline during the fatiguing contractions. The variation in contralateral associated contractions is probably due to interpersonal variability in the amount of residual drive to the muscles.

Item Type:	Thesis (Thesis)
Supervisor name:	Zijdewind, Inge and Kamsma, Yvo
Faculty:	Medical Sciences
Date Deposited:	25 Jun 2020 10:54
Last Modified:	25 Jun 2020 10:54
URI:	https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/1510

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