EFFICACY OF DIFFERENT PULSE FREQUENCIES OF IDGH VOLTAGE GALVANIC STIMULATION ON THE TORQUE OF THE QUADRICEPS MUSCLE

Abstract

The study was conducted in the faculty of Physical Therapy, during June to September of the year 2000. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effective pulse frequency either (20, 60 or I 00) PPS that could increase the torque of the quadriceps femoris muscle and investigate the possible pulse frequency that could produce muscle soreness after 48 hours of stimulation.

Forty-five normal male volunteer subjects were randomly assigned to three equal groups. Non-dominant QF muscle stimulated with the HVPC preset at pulse frequencies of 20 PPS, 60 PPS and 100 PPS respectively. ES was administered three times a week for 6 weeks. At each training session the•intensity of the stimulator was adjusted to the current that could be maximally tolerated by each subject for 15 minutes. Muscle soreness perception was evaluated 48 hours after stimulation . using the short form of McGill pain questionnaire. For each subject isometric force of the non-dominant QF muscle was evaluated pre-training, at the end of the second, forth and sixth week of training with HVPC. The torque measurement was taken over three trials. The mean of the three trials was an estimate of the true value. Standard deviation is an indication of precision of single measurement. {ANOVA) was used to determine significant differences in the quadriceps strength data within and between groups across the period of measurement.