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Comparative Study of the Lower Limb Muscle Tone under the Conditions of Five-day Support Unloading Coupled with Different Regimens of Electromyostimulation

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Abstract

The method of electromyostimulation is diverse in its manifestation and is widespread in medicine and sports. One of the approaches to assessing the effectiveness of this method is a muscle tone study, because it is known that chronic electrical stimulation directly affects the characteristics of the muscle, changing its strength, endurance, fiber mass, and oxidative capabilities. In our study, we compared the effects of daily low- (25 Hz) and high-frequency (50 Hz) electromyostimulation with the control group under the conditions of five-day Dry Immersion in three independent groups of subjects. There was a tendency for the muscle tone in the mm. soleus, gastrocnemius, and tibialis anterior to decrease by the end of immersion in the control group. Low-frequency stimulation was more effective in preserving the muscle tone of the soleus muscle, while high-frequency stimulation was more effective for the gastrocnemius muscle. Neither low-frequency nor high-frequency stimulation prevented a decrease in the lower leg tibialis anterior muscle tone, although immediately after completion of immersion, its tone was significantly higher than the baseline values compared to the control group. The use of daily sessions of electromyostimulation during five-day support unloading selectively prevents a decrease in the tone of the lower leg muscles. Low-frequency electromyostimulation is most preferable for muscles with the predominant content of slow fibers, while high-frequency stimulation, for fast fibers.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The team of authors is sincerely grateful to Yuri Andreevich Koryak for his patient and scrupulous explanation of the intricacies of the electromyostimulation technique, carefully collected for many years of work at IBMP and transmitted to the younger generation.

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (RFMEFI61317X0074).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biomedical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    L. E. Amirova, N. Yu. Osetskiy, N. V. Shishkin, I. I. Ponomarev, I. V. Rukavishnikov, I. B. Kozlovskaya & E. S. Tomilovskaya

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  1. L. E. Amirova
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  2. N. Yu. Osetskiy
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  3. N. V. Shishkin
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  4. I. I. Ponomarev
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  5. I. V. Rukavishnikov
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  6. I. B. Kozlovskaya
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  7. E. S. Tomilovskaya
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Correspondence to L. E. Amirova or E. S. Tomilovskaya.

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Conflict of interests. The authors declare no apparent and potential conflicts of interest related to the publication of this article.

Statement of compliance with standards of research involving humans as subjects. All studies were conducted in accordance with the principles of biomedical ethics formulated in the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments and approved by the Bioethics Committee of the Institute of Biomedical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow) (protocols N 370 of September 15, 2014; N 401 of July 15, 2015; N 432 of September 14, 2016; and N 465 of December 25, 2017). Informed written consent was obtained from all individual participants involved in the study and signed by them after being explained the potential risks, advantages, as well as the nature of the forthcoming study.

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Translated by E. Babchenko

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Amirova, L.E., Osetskiy, N.Y., Shishkin, N.V. et al. Comparative Study of the Lower Limb Muscle Tone under the Conditions of Five-day Support Unloading Coupled with Different Regimens of Electromyostimulation. Hum Physiol 46, 391–400 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119720040027

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