Rhythmic arm cycling differentially modulates stretch and H-reflex amplitudes in soleus muscle

dc.contributor.authorPalomino, Andres Felipe
dc.contributor.supervisorZehr, E. Paul
dc.contributor.supervisorHundza, Sandra R.
dc.date.accessioned2011-07-08T18:13:44Z
dc.date.copyright2011en_US
dc.date.issued2011-07-08
dc.degree.departmentSchool of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education
dc.degree.levelMaster of Science M.Sc.en_US
dc.description.abstractDuring rhythmic arm cycling soleus H-reflex amplitudes are reduced by modulation of group Ia presynaptic inhibition (Frigon et al, 2004). This reflex suppression is graded with the frequency of arm cycling (Loadman & Zehr 2007; Hundza & Zehr 2009) and 0.8 Hz is the minimum frequency to significantly reduce the soleus H-reflex (Hundza & Zehr 2009). Despite the data on modulation of the soleus H-reflex amplitude induced by rhythmic arm cycling, comparatively little is known about the modulation of stretch reflexes due to remote limb movement. Therefore, the present study was intended to explore the effect of arm cycling on stretch and H-reflex amplitudes in the soleus muscle. In so doing, additional information on the mechanism of action during rhythmic arm cycling would be revealed. Although both reflexes share the same afferent pathway, we hypothesized that stretch reflex amplitudes would be less suppressed by arm cycling because they are less inhibited by presynaptic inhibition (Morita et al, 1998). Failure to reject this hypothesis would add additional strength to the argument that Ia presynaptic inhibition is the mechanism modulating soleus H-reflex amplitude during rhythmic arm cycling. Participants were seated in a customized chair with feet strapped to footplates. Three motor tasks were performed: static control trials and arm cycling at 1 and 2 Hz. Soleus H-reflexes were evoked using single 1 ms pulses of electrical stimulation delivered to the tibial nerve at the popliteal fossa. A constant M-wave and ~6% MVC activation of soleus was maintained across conditions. Stretch reflexes were evoked using a vibratory shaker (ET-126; Labworks Inc). The shaker was placed over the triceps surae tendon and controlled by a custom written LabView program (single sinusoidal pulse at 100Hz). Results demonstrated that rhythmic arm cycling that was effective for conditioning soleus H-reflexes did not show a suppressive effect on the amplitude of the soleus stretch reflex. We suggest this indicates that stretch reflexes are less sensitive to conditioning by rhythmic arm movement, as compared to H-reflexes, due to the relative insensitivity of Ia presynaptic inhibition.en_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/3401
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rights.tempAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectArm cyclingen_US
dc.subjectstretchen_US
dc.subjectH-reflexen_US
dc.subjectpresynaptic inhibitionen_US
dc.titleRhythmic arm cycling differentially modulates stretch and H-reflex amplitudes in soleus muscleen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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