Abstract
Prior studies suggest resistance exercise as a potential form of motor learning due to task-specific corticospinal responses observed in single sessions of motor skill and resistance training. While existing literature primarily focuses on upper limb muscles, revealing a task-dependent nature in eliciting corticospinal responses, our aim was to investigate such responses after a single session of lower limb motor skill and resistance training. Twelve participants engaged in a visuomotor force tracking task, self-paced knee extensions, and a control task. Corticospinal, spinal, and neuromuscular responses were measured using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS). Assessments occurred at baseline, immediately post, and at 30-min intervals over two hours. Force steadiness significantly improved in the visuomotor task (P < 0.001). Significant fixed-effects emerged between conditions for corticospinal excitability, corticospinal inhibition, and spinal excitability (all P < 0.001). Lower limb motor skill training resulted in a greater corticospinal excitability compared to resistance training (mean difference [MD] = 35%, P < 0.001) and control (MD; 37%, P < 0.001). Motor skill training resulted in a lower corticospinal inhibition compared to control (MD; – 10%, P < 0.001) and resistance training (MD; – 9%, P < 0.001). Spinal excitability was lower following motor skill training compared to control (MD; – 28%, P < 0.001). No significant fixed effect of Time or Time*Condition interactions were observed. Our findings highlight task-dependent corticospinal responses in lower limb motor skill training, offering insights for neurorehabilitation program design.
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The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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The authors would like to thank Mr Chris Rainer, Mr Karl Graham, Mr Rudy Sawtell, Mr Nasir Uddin and Dr Luke Hughes for their assistance with data collection.
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The experiments were performed in the Biomechanics Laboratory at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham. AW, JH, CPM, JSN, DJK and JT conceived and designed the study. AW acquired and analysed the data. AW drafted the manuscript with all authors approving the final version (AW, CR, JH, CPM, JSN, DJK and JT).
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Woodhead, A., Rainer, C., Hill, J. et al. Corticospinal and spinal responses following a single session of lower limb motor skill and resistance training. Eur J Appl Physiol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-024-05464-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-024-05464-9