Effects of local cooling and heating in the triceps surae muscles during sustained isometric contraction

Abstract

A study was conducted to examine activity patterns of surface electromyograms (EMGs) in the triceps surae muscles (medial gastrocnemius, MG; lateral gastrocnemius, LG; soleus, SOL) during isometric contraction in plantar flexion (60% MVC, 20% MVC) after immersion in water at three different temperatures. Seven healthy male subjects were immersed in water at 2 ∼ 3 °C (ICE), 19 ∼ 21°C (MID), and 40∼42°C (HOT). The results of the study are summarized as follows : 1) In the MG and LG. there was a slight increase in the rate of integrated electromyograms (IEMGs) in the MG (the main agonist muscle). However, the rate of increase in the LG, which is the synergistic muscle, was much greater than that in the MG when contraction was sustained at 60% MVC. Therefore, the activity pattern suggests that muscle activity in the LG compensates for that in the MG. 2) The IEMGs of the SOL with sustained contraction, increased significantly after immersion in HOT and MID, but the IEMGs decreased after immersion in ICE. These results suggest that the recruitment threshold in slow-type motor units should increase during sustained isometric contraction in ICE. As illustrated above, the activity of the LG increased to compensate for that of MG. In the SOL, muscle activity with sustained contraction decreased in ICE. These results suggest that control mechanisms of the central nervous system might play an important role in the associated movement of the triceps surae muscles.