Muscle Coactivation Phenomenon in the Modulation of Walking by Electrical Stimulation of the Spinal Cord

Autor: N. D. Shandybina, Yu. P. Gerasimenko, A. A. Grishin, S. A. Moiseev, Tatiana Moshonkina
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Human Physiology. 47:175-182
ISSN: 1608-3164
0362-1197
DOI: 10.1134/s0362119721020092
Popis: Investigations on the coactivation of antagonist muscles was for the first time carried out in combination with noninvasive electrical stimulation of spinal cord. Transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TES) of the dorsal roots of spinal cord was performed in healthy volunteers during their walk on a treadmill, purposefully activating the motor pools of flexor muscles during the swing phase and those of extensor muscles during the stance phase. This type of stimulation altered the kinematics of gait. The muscle coactivation index (CI) values obtained for the swing and stance phases during walking including stimulation were compared with the values obtained during walking without stimulation. It has been shown that TES increases the CI values for the thigh muscles by ~10% and those for the ankle muscles by ~5%. This stimulation also alters the correlation between the CI values for the thigh and ankle muscles, depending on the gait cycle phases. With TES applied during the stance phase, a significant difference was recorded between the CI values for the thigh and ankle muscles during the stance phase, but this difference was absent during walking without stimulation. With TES used during the swing phase, no difference was recorded between the CI values for the ankle muscles during the swing phase and the CI values for the ankle muscles during the stance phase, whereas the indicated difference was present during walking without stimulation, i.e., during the swing phase, the ankle joint was recorded in a not fully extended position left in it from the stance phase. If the walking was accompanied by alternating stimulation of the flexor motor pools during the swing phase and the extensor motor pools during the stance phase, the stiffness of the ankle joint during the swing phase was the same as during the stance phase. Therefore, both the value and the direction of the indicated changes in CI depend on the spatiotemporal parameters of stimulation and correlate with the gait alterations caused by the targeted stimulation of the dorsal roots of spinal cord.
Databáze: OpenAIRE