Are the antagonist muscle fatigued during a prolonged isometric fatiguing elbow flexion at very low forces for young adults?

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine whether antagonist muscles may be fatigued during a prolonged isometric fatiguing elbow flexion at very low forces. Twelve healthy male subjects sustained an isometric elbow flexion at 10% maximal voluntary contraction torque until exhaustion while multichannel electromyographic signals were collected from the biceps brachii (BB) and triceps brachii (TB). Muscle fiber conduction velocity (CV) and fractal dimension (FD) of both muscles were calculated to reflect peripheral and central fatigue. CV and FD of TB as well as FD of BB decreased progressively during the sustained fatiguing contraction, while the CV of BB declined at the beginning of the contraction and then increased progressively until the end of the contraction. The result may indicate that during the sustained low-force isometric fatiguing contraction, antagonist muscle may be peripherally fatigued, and changes in coactivation activities were modulated not only by central neuronal mechanisms of common drive but also by peripheral metabolic factors.

Exploration and Application of a Muscle Fatigue Assessment Model Based on NMF for Multi-Muscle Synergistic Movements

“…Muscle fatigue, characterized by a reversible decline in the neuromuscular system's force or power generation ability, can be categorized as central fatigue and peripheral fatigue [10,11]. Central fatigue induced by exercise results from the central nervous system's inability to generate and sustain impulses for muscle demands, affecting motor neurons from the brain to the spinal cord [8,12,13].…”