Abstract
Purpose
The twofold purpose of this study was (1) to compare differences in development and etiology of neuromuscular fatigue at different plantar flexor (PF) muscle-tendon unit (MTU) lengths between boys and men, and (2) to examine the relationship between musculotendinous stiffness and peripheral fatigue.
Methods
Nineteen pre-pubertal boys and 23 men performed three intermittent fatigue protocols at different PF MTU lengths (short: S, neutral: N and long: L), consisting of repeating maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVIC) until the torque reached 60% of the initial value of MVIC. The etiology of the neuromuscular fatigue and the gastrocnemius medialis aponeuroses and tendon stiffness (KGM) were investigated using non-invasive methods.
Result
The number of repetitions did not differ between men and boys, regardless of the PF MTU length (S: 16.5 ± 5.4 and 17.6 ± 5.8; N: 15.8 ± 4.5 and 13.3 ± 3.6; L: 13.6 ± 4.8 and 12.6 ± 4.6, respectively). Boys displayed a lower decrement of potentiated twitch torque (Qtwpot; p < 0.001) and greater decrease of voluntary activation level than men (p < 0.001). Although boys showed lower KGM values than men at S, no significant correlation was found between KGM and Qtwpot.
Conclusion
PF MTU length had no effect on differences in the development and etiology of neuromuscular fatigue between boys and men. Although both groups displayed similar development of fatigue, central mechanisms mainly accounted for fatigue in boys and peripheral mechanisms were mainly involved in men. Additionally, musculotendinous stiffness did not account for difference in peripheral fatigue between children and adults.
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Abbreviations
- %CoAct:
-
Level of antagonist co-activation
- %GM:
-
Percentage of gastrocnemius medialis contribution
- %REP:
-
Percentage of the number of repetitions
- ΔLGM :
-
Gastrocnemius medialis aponeuroses elongation
- η 2 :
-
Partial eta-squared
- ANOVA:
-
Analysis of variance
- Dt10Hz :
-
Low frequency doublet
- Dt100Hz :
-
High frequency doublet
- EMG:
-
Electromyographic
- FGM :
-
Gastrocnemius medialis muscle force
- GM:
-
Gastrocnemius medialis
- H-reflex:
-
Hoffmann reflex
- Hmax :
-
Maximal H-reflex amplitude
- IHmax :
-
Stimulation intensity at maximal H-reflex amplitude
- Iopt :
-
Optimal stimulation intensity
- KE:
-
Knee extensors
- KGM :
-
Gastrocnemius medialis aponeuroses and tendon stiffness
- L:
-
Long muscle-tendon unit length
- MAGM :
-
Gastrocnemius medialis moment arm
- Mmax :
-
Maximal M-wave amplitude
- MT:
-
Musculotendinous
- MTU:
-
Muscle-tendon unit
- MVIC:
-
Maximal voluntary isometric contractions
- M-wave:
-
Compound action potential
- N:
-
Neutral muscle-tendon unit length
- PF:
-
Plantar flexors
- Qtwpot :
-
Potentiated twitch torque
- Qtws :
-
Superimposed twitch torque
- Qtwunpot :
-
Unpotentiated twitch torque
- RMS:
-
Root Mean Square
- S:
-
Short muscle-tendon unit length
- SOL:
-
Soleus
- TA:
-
Tibialis anterior
- TPF :
-
Plantar-flexors torque
- VA:
-
Voluntary activation level
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The authors thank the participants for their time and effort. The authors are grateful to Pr. Geraldine Naughton for language edition and valuable comments during the preparation of the manuscript.
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EP, SR, MD, and VM conceived and designed research; EP, EC, BB, VJ, and OB performed experiments; EP, SR, EC, KJ, BB, and VM analyzed data; EP, SR, EC, KJ, BB, and VM interpreted results of experiments; EP prepared figures; EP, SR, and VM drafted manuscript; EP, SR, and VM edited and revised manuscript; All authors approved final version of manuscript.
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The authors report no conflict of interest. This work is known to and agreed by the co-authors identified on the manuscript’s title page. This work required more than six people, because of clinical examination (physician or pediatrician), recruitment of volunteers, experimental procedures, statistical analysis and data analysis.
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Piponnier, E., Ratel, S., Chalchat, E. et al. Plantar flexor muscle-tendon unit length and stiffness do not influence neuromuscular fatigue in boys and men. Eur J Appl Physiol 120, 653–664 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04305-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04305-9