scholarly journals Quadriceps activation during maximal isometric and isokinetic contractions: The minimal real difference and its implications

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Luigi Catino ◽  
Chiara Malloggi ◽  
Stefano Scarano ◽  
Valeria Cerina ◽  
Viviana Rota ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: A method of measurement of voluntary activation (VA, percent of full muscle recruitment) during isometric and isokinetic concentric contractions of the quadriceps femoris (QF) at 60∘/s and 120∘/s was previously validated. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to quantify the test-retest minimal real difference (MRD) of VA during isometric (ISOM) and isokinetic concentric contractions of QF (100∘/s, ISOK) in a sample of healthy individuals. METHODS: VA was measured through the interpolated twitch technique. Pairs of electrical stimuli were delivered to the QF at 40∘ of knee flexion during maximal voluntary contractions. Twenty-five healthy participants (20–38 years, 12 women, 13 men) completed two testing sessions with a 14-day interval. VA values were linearized through logit transformation (VAl). The MRD was estimated from intraclass correlation coefficients (model 2.1). RESULTS: The VA (median, range) was 84.20% (38.2–99.9%) in ISOM and 94.22% (33.8-100%) in ISOK. MRD was 0.78 and 1.12 logit for ISOM and ISOK, respectively. As an example, in terms of percent VA these values correspond to a change from 76% to 95% and from 79% to 98% in ISOM and in ISOK, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The provided MRD values allow to detect significant individual changes in VA, as expected after training and rehabilitation programs.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
John F Drazan ◽  
Todd J Hullfish ◽  
Josh R Baxter

Background. Ultrasound has become the gold-standard for making dynamic measurements of muscle structure during functional movements in biomechanical studies. Manual measurements of fascicle length and pennation angle are time intensive which limits the clinical utility of this approach while also limiting sample sizes. The purpose of this study was to develop a novel tracking paradigm to quantify individual fascicle length and pennation measurements during maximal voluntary contractions and demonstrate is repeatability between days and reproducibility between different examiners. Methods. Five healthy young adults performed maximal isokinetic contractions at 0, 30, 120, 210, and 500 degrees about their ankle on an isokinetic dynamometer while their gastrocnemius muscle was observed using ultrasound. Individual muscle fascicles were identified in the first frame, and tracked using the automatic fascicle tracking algorithm and a manual approach by three observers on three separate days. Repeatability within examiners across days and reproducibility across examiners and days was evaluated using intraclass correlation coefficients. Agreement between manual and automatic tracking was evaluated using the coefficient of multiple correlations. Supervised automatic tracking was performed on all videos by one examiner to evaluate the fidelity of automatic tracking in practice. Results. We found both manual and automatic measurements of fascicle length and pennation angle to be strongly repeatable within examiners and strongly reproducible across examiners and days (ICCs>0.76). There was greater agreement between manual and automatic measurements of fascicle length than pennation angle, however the mean CMC value for both was still found to be strong in both cases (CMC>0.8). Supervision of automatic tracking greatly showed very strong agreement between manual and automatic measurements of fascicle length and pennation angle (CMC>0.94). Conclusions. We have developed a novel automatic fascicle tracking algorithm that quantifies fascicle length and pennation angle of individual muscle fascicles during dynamic contractions across a range of velocities. We demonstrated that this fascicle tracking algorithm is repeatable and reproducible across different examiners and different days and showed strong agreement with manual measurements, especially when tracking is supervised by the user so that tracking can be reinitialized if poor tracking fidelity is observed.


1991 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 2122-2126 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Newham ◽  
T. McCarthy ◽  
J. Turner

The extent of voluntary activation in fresh and fatigued quadriceps muscles was investigated during isometric and isokinetic voluntary contractions at 20 and 150 degrees/s in 23 normal human subjects. The muscles were fatigued by a total of 4 min of maximal knee extension at an angular velocity of 85 degrees/s. Voluntary activation was determined by the superimposition of tetanic electrical stimulation at 100 Hz for 250 ms, initiated at a constant knee angle. The relationship between voluntary and stimulated force was similar to that found with the established twitch superimposition technique used on isometric contractions. In fresh muscle all the subjects showed full voluntary activation during isometric contractions. Some activation failure was seen in five subjects at 20 degrees/s [2.0 +/- 0.9 degrees (SE)] and in two subjects at 150 degrees/s (0.7 +/- 0.5). After fatigue all subjects showed some activation failure at 0 and 20 degrees/s (36.4 +/- 3.1 and 28.8 +/- 4.1 degrees, respectively), but only two showed any at 150 degrees/s (1.4 +/- 5.7). We conclude that brief high-intensity dynamic exercise can cause a considerable failure of voluntary activation. This failure was most marked during isometric and the lower-velocity isokinetic contractions. Thus a failure of voluntary activation may have greater functional significance than previous studies of isometric contractions have indicated.


2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 285-291
Author(s):  
Anamaria Fleig Mayer ◽  
Aline Almeida Gulart ◽  
Karoliny dos Santos ◽  
Katerine Cristhine Cani ◽  
Manuela Karloh ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Objective: To translate the Understanding COPD (UCOPD) questionnaire into Portuguese, adapt it for use in Brazil, and assess its reliability. Methods: The UCOPD questionnaire consists of two sections, designated section A and section B. Section A comprises 18 items divided into three domains: “About COPD”, “Managing Symptoms of COPD”, and “Accessing Help and Support”. Section B includes five questions regarding patient satisfaction with the educational component of pulmonary rehabilitation programs. The UCOPD questionnaire was applied twice on the same day by two different raters (with a 10-min interval between applications) and once again 15-20 days later. The Wilcoxon test was used in order to compare the scores among applications. Reliability was assessed by the intraclass correlation coefficient and Bland-Altman plots. Results: The study sample consisted of 50 COPD patients (35 men; mean age, 65.3 ± 7.91 years; mean FEV1, 36.4 ± 16.2% of the predicted value). Inter-rater intraclass correlation coefficients for section A total scores and domain scores ranged from moderate to high. Section A scores and domain scores had no significant differences regarding test-retest reliability (p < 0.05). The test-retest and inter-rater Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for section A total scores were 0.93 and 0.86, respectively (p < 0.001). There were no floor or ceiling effects. Conclusions: The Brazilian Portuguese version of the UCOPD questionnaire is reliable.


Author(s):  
John F Drazan ◽  
Todd J Hullfish ◽  
Josh R Baxter

Background. Ultrasound has become the gold-standard for making dynamic measurements of muscle structure during functional movements in biomechanical studies. Manual measurements of fascicle length and pennation angle are time intensive which limits the clinical utility of this approach while also limiting sample sizes. The purpose of this study was to develop a novel tracking paradigm to quantify individual fascicle length and pennation measurements during maximal voluntary contractions and demonstrate is repeatability between days and reproducibility between different examiners. Methods. Five healthy young adults performed maximal isokinetic contractions at 0, 30, 120, 210, and 500 degrees about their ankle on an isokinetic dynamometer while their gastrocnemius muscle was observed using ultrasound. Individual muscle fascicles were identified in the first frame, and tracked using the automatic fascicle tracking algorithm and a manual approach by three observers on three separate days. Repeatability within examiners across days and reproducibility across examiners and days was evaluated using intraclass correlation coefficients. Agreement between manual and automatic tracking was evaluated using the coefficient of multiple correlations. Supervised automatic tracking was performed on all videos by one examiner to evaluate the fidelity of automatic tracking in practice. Results. We found both manual and automatic measurements of fascicle length and pennation angle to be strongly repeatable within examiners and strongly reproducible across examiners and days (ICCs>0.76). There was greater agreement between manual and automatic measurements of fascicle length than pennation angle, however the mean CMC value for both was still found to be strong in both cases (CMC>0.8). Supervision of automatic tracking greatly showed very strong agreement between manual and automatic measurements of fascicle length and pennation angle (CMC>0.94). Conclusions. We have developed a novel automatic fascicle tracking algorithm that quantifies fascicle length and pennation angle of individual muscle fascicles during dynamic contractions across a range of velocities. We demonstrated that this fascicle tracking algorithm is repeatable and reproducible across different examiners and different days and showed strong agreement with manual measurements, especially when tracking is supervised by the user so that tracking can be reinitialized if poor tracking fidelity is observed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
John F. Caruso ◽  
Alex C.S. Shefflette

BACKGROUND: Pulse oximetry measures heart rate (HR) and percent oxygen saturation (SpO2). For aerobic exercise, whereby cellular oxygen demand and delivery are elevated and maintained for extended periods, HR and SpO2 values are consistent when measured by pulse oximetry. Yet due to its intermittent nature, HR and SpO2 values from resistive exercise may exhibit lower data reliability and repeatability. OBJECTIVE: Assess intra-rater reliability and repeatability of pulse oximetry HR and SpO2 values from two identical resistive exercise protocols. METHODS: Subjects (n= 32) performed two calf press workouts on a flywheel-based ergometer as HR and SpO2 were measured before, between sets, and after exercise. Workouts entailed a 4-set 15-repetition protocol separated by 120-second rests. Intra-rater reliability was assessed with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Repeatability was measured by the smallest real difference in absolute and relative terms. RESULTS: ICC and standard error of estimate results for HR ranged from 0.60–0.79 and 9.1–13.0 respectively. SpO2 ICC and standard error of estimate results ranged from 0.16–0.71 and 1.44–4.33 respectively. Between sets, smallest real difference values tended to be less for HR. CONCLUSIONS: Results demonstrate acceptable intra-rater reliability and repeatability for HR, but not SpO2 which we attribute to the exercise mode and protocol examined.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Graham D. Cochrane ◽  
Jennifer B. Christy ◽  
Ethan T. Kicker ◽  
Ryan P. Kailey ◽  
Brandon K. England

BACKGROUND: Clinical vestibular technology is rapidly evolving to improve objective assessments of vestibular function. Understanding the reliability and expected score ranges of emerging clinical vestibular tools is important to gauge how these tools should be used as clinical endpoints. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate inter-rater and test-retest reliability intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) of four vestibular tools and to determine expected ranges of scores through smallest real difference (SRD) measures. METHODS: Sixty healthy graduate students completed two 1-hour sessions, at most a week apart, consisting of two video head-impulse tests (vHIT), computerized dynamic visual acuity (cDVA) tests, and a smartphone-assisted bucket test (SA-SVV). Thirty students were tested by different testers at each session (inter-rater) and 30 by the same tester (test-retest). ICCs and SRDs were calculated for both conditions. RESULTS: Most measures fell within the moderate ICC range (0.50–0.75). ICCs were higher for cDVA in the inter-rater subgroup and higher for vHITs in the test-retest subgroup. CONCLUSIONS: Measures from the four tools evaluated were moderately reliable. There may be a tester effect on reliabilities, specifically vHITs. Further research should repeat these analyses in a patient population and explore methodological differences between vHIT systems.


1991 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 989-999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Shaw ◽  
Truman E. Coggins

This study examines whether observers reliably categorize selected speech production behaviors in hearing-impaired children. A group of experienced speech-language pathologists was trained to score the elicited imitations of 5 profoundly and 5 severely hearing-impaired subjects using the Phonetic Level Evaluation (Ling, 1976). Interrater reliability was calculated using intraclass correlation coefficients. Overall, the magnitude of the coefficients was found to be considerably below what would be accepted in published behavioral research. Failure to obtain acceptably high levels of reliability suggests that the Phonetic Level Evaluation may not yet be an accurate and objective speech assessment measure for hearing-impaired children.


Author(s):  
Marcos A Soriano ◽  
G Gregory Haff ◽  
Paul Comfort ◽  
Francisco J Amaro-Gahete ◽  
Antonio Torres-González ◽  
...  

The aims of this study were to (I) determine the differences and relationship between the overhead press and split jerk performance in athletes involved in weightlifting training, and (II) explore the magnitude of these differences in one-repetition maximum (1RM) performances between sexes. Sixty-one men (age: 30.4 ± 6.7 years; height: 1.8 ± 0.5 m; body mass 82.5 ± 8.5 kg; weightlifting training experience: 3.7 ± 3.5 yrs) and 21 women (age: 29.5 ± 5.2 yrs; height: 1.7 ± 0.5 m; body mass: 62.6 ± 5.7 kg; weightlifting training experience: 3.0 ± 1.5 yrs) participated. The 1RM performance of the overhead press and split jerk were assessed for all participants, with the overhead press assessed on two occasions to determine between-session reliability. The intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and 95% confidence intervals showed a high reliability for the overhead press ICC = 0.98 (0.97 – 0.99). A very strong correlation and significant differences were found between the overhead press and split jerk 1RM performances for all participants (r = 0.90 [0.93 – 0.85], 60.2 ± 18.3 kg, 95.7 ± 29.3 kg, p ≤ 0.001). Men demonstrated stronger correlations between the overhead press and split jerk 1RM performances (r = 0.83 [0.73-0.90], p ≤ 0.001) compared with women (r = 0.56 [0.17-0.80], p = 0.008). These results provide evidence that 1RM performance of the overhead press and split jerk performance are highly related, highlighting the importance of upper-limb strength in the split jerk maximum performance.


Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1163
Author(s):  
Suzana Shahar ◽  
Mohd Razif Shahril ◽  
Noraidatulakma Abdullah ◽  
Boekhtiar Borhanuddin ◽  
Mohd Arman Kamaruddin ◽  
...  

Measuring dietary intakes in a multi-ethnic and multicultural setting, such as Malaysia, remains a challenge due to its diversity. This study aims to develop and evaluate the relative validity of an interviewer-administered food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) in assessing the habitual dietary exposure of The Malaysian Cohort (TMC) participants. We developed a nutrient database (with 203 items) based on various food consumption tables, and 803 participants were involved in this study. The output of the FFQ was then validated against three-day 24-h dietary recalls (n = 64). We assessed the relative validity and its agreement using various methods, such as Spearman’s correlation, weighed Kappa, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and Bland–Altman analysis. Spearman’s correlation coefficient ranged from 0.24 (vitamin C) to 0.46 (carbohydrate), and almost all nutrients had correlation coefficients above 0.3, except for vitamin C and sodium. Intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from −0.01 (calcium) to 0.59 (carbohydrates), and weighted Kappa exceeded 0.4 for 50% of nutrients. In short, TMC’s FFQ appears to have good relative validity for the assessment of nutrient intake among its participants, as compared to the three-day 24-h dietary recalls. However, estimates for iron, vitamin A, and vitamin C should be interpreted with caution.


Dysphagia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofie Albinsson ◽  
Lisa Tuomi ◽  
Christine Wennerås ◽  
Helen Larsson

AbstractThe lack of a Swedish patient-reported outcome instrument for eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) has limited the assessment of the disease. The aims of the study were to translate and validate the Eosinophilic Esophagitis Activity Index (EEsAI) to Swedish and to assess the symptom severity of patients with EoE compared to a nondysphagia control group. The EEsAI was translated and adapted to a Swedish cultural context (S-EEsAI) based on international guidelines. The S-EEsAI was validated using adult Swedish patients with EoE (n = 97) and an age- and sex-matched nondysphagia control group (n = 97). All participants completed the S-EEsAI, the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Oesophageal Module 18 (EORTC QLQ-OES18), and supplementary questions regarding feasibility and demographics. Reliability and validity of the S-EEsAI were evaluated by Cronbach’s alpha and Spearman correlation coefficients between the domains of the S-EEsAI and the EORTC QLQ-OES18. A test–retest analysis of 29 patients was evaluated through intraclass correlation coefficients. The S-EEsAI had sufficient reliability with Cronbach’s alpha values of 0.83 and 0.85 for the “visual dysphagia question” and the “avoidance, modification and slow eating score” domains, respectively. The test–retest reliability was sufficient, with good to excellent intraclass correlation coefficients (0.60–0.89). The S-EEsAI domains showed moderate correlation to 6/10 EORTC QLQ-OES18 domains, indicating adequate validity. The patient S-EEsAI results differed significantly from those of the nondysphagia controls (p < 0.001). The S-EEsAI appears to be a valid and reliable instrument for monitoring adult patients with EoE in Sweden.


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