Neuromuscular Function and Movement Control

A special issue of Sports (ISSN 2075-4663).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2020) | Viewed by 10800

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University
Interests: cortical plasticity; neuromuscular function; reflexes; aging
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Motor control describes the process by which the nervous system coordinates muscle activation resulting in performance of movements or actions. The ability for humans to control gross, as well as very intricate fine, actions is fundamental to human movement. Understanding the mechanisms involved in how the brain controls movement in healthy humans and how functions are affected by injury or disease are extremely important for providing exercise and practice strategies for a variety of purposes from optimal rehabilitation interventions to the perfection of high level skill performance seen in musicians or athletes.

In this Special Issue, “Neuromuscular Function and Movement Control”, we will include studies that address research questions on how the nervous system controls muscle function. This may involve investigation of neural pathways within the central nervous system (CNS) or the peripheral nervous system (PNS). Studies may employ tools including transcranial magnetic brain stimulation, transcranial direct current stimulation, peripheral nerve stimulation, DEXA, MRI, EMG and other associated technologies. Subject groups may include healthy individuals and/or those with neuromuscular disorders or injuries, such as spinal cord injury or traumatic brain injury.

Dr. Andrew P. Lavender
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Motor control
  • Neuromuscular function
  • Transcranial magnetic stimulation
  • Transcranial direct current stimulation
  • Plasticity
  • Hoffman reflex
  • M wave
  • Paired associative stimulation
  • Electromyography
  • Electroencephalography
  • Balance
  • Ageing
  • Concussion
  • Spinal cord injury
  • Traumatic brain injury
  • Exercise induced muscle damage
  • Faigue

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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15 pages, 1607 KiB  
Article
Neuromuscular Fatigue at Task Failure and During Immediate Recovery after Isometric Knee Extension Trials
by Christian Froyd, Fernando G. Beltrami and Timothy D. Noakes
Sports 2018, 6(4), 156; https://doi.org/10.3390/sports6040156 - 28 Nov 2018
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5061
Abstract
We asked whether the level of peripheral fatigue would differ when three consecutive exercise trials were completed to task failure, and whether there would be delayed recovery in maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) force, neuromuscular activation and peripheral fatigue following task failure. Ten trained [...] Read more.
We asked whether the level of peripheral fatigue would differ when three consecutive exercise trials were completed to task failure, and whether there would be delayed recovery in maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) force, neuromuscular activation and peripheral fatigue following task failure. Ten trained sport students performed three consecutive knee extension isometric trials (T1, T2, T3) to task failure without breaks between trials. T1 and T2 consisted of repeated 5-s contractions followed by 5-s rests. In T1, contractions were performed at a target force at 60% pre-exercise MVC. In T2, all contractions were MVCs, and task failure occurred at 50% MVC. T3 was a sustained MVC performed until force fell below 15% MVC. Evoked force responses to supramaximal electrical femoral nerve stimulation were recorded to assess peripheral fatigue. Electromyography signals were normalized to an M-wave amplitude to assess neuromuscular activation. Lower levels of evoked peak forces were observed at T3 compared with T2 and T1. Within 5 s of task failure in T3, MVC force and neuromuscular activation recovered substantially without any recovery in evoked peak force. Neuromuscular activation 5–10 s after T3 was unchanged from pre-exercise values, however, evoked peak forces were substantially reduced. These results challenge the existence of a critical peripheral fatigue threshold that reduces neuromuscular activation. Since neuromuscular activation changed independently of any change in evoked peak force, immediate recovery in force production after exercise is due to increased central recruitment and not to peripheral mechanisms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neuromuscular Function and Movement Control)
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9 pages, 1900 KiB  
Case Report
“Paralympic Brain”. Compensation and Reorganization of a Damaged Human Brain with Intensive Physical Training
by Kimitaka Nakazawa, Hiroki Obata, Daichi Nozaki, Shintaro Uehara and Pablo Celnik
Sports 2020, 8(4), 46; https://doi.org/10.3390/sports8040046 - 7 Apr 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5117
Abstract
The main aim of the study was to evaluate how the brain of a Paralympic athlete with severe disability due to cerebral palsy has reorganized after continuous training geared to enhance performance. Both corticospinal excitability of upper-limb muscles and electromyographic activity during swimming [...] Read more.
The main aim of the study was to evaluate how the brain of a Paralympic athlete with severe disability due to cerebral palsy has reorganized after continuous training geared to enhance performance. Both corticospinal excitability of upper-limb muscles and electromyographic activity during swimming were investigated for a Paralympic gold medalist in swimming competitions. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to the affected and intact hand motor cortical area revealed that the affected side finger muscle cortical representation area shifted towards the temporal side, and cortico-spinal excitability of the target muscle was prominently facilitated, i.e., the maximum motor evoked potential in the affected side, 6.11 ± 0.19 mV was greater than that in the intact side, 4.52 ± 0.39 mV (mean ± standard error). Electromyographic activities during swimming demonstrated well-coordinated patterns as compared with rather spastic activities observed in the affected side during walking on land. These results suggest that the ability of the brain to reorganize through intensive training in Paralympic athletes can teach interesting lessons to the field neurorehabilitation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neuromuscular Function and Movement Control)
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