Muscle fatigue encompasses a class of acute effects that impair motor performance. The mechanisms that can produce fatigue involve all elements of the motor system, from a failure of the formulation of the descending drive provided by suprasegmental centers to a reduction in the activity of the contractile proteins. We propose four themes that provide a basis for the systematic evaluation of the neural and neuromuscular fatigue mechanisms: 1) task dependency to identify the conditions that activate the various mechanisms; 2) force-fatigability relationship to explore the interaction between the mechanisms that results in a hyperbolic relationship between force and endurance time; 3) muscle wisdom to examine the association among a concurrent decline in force, relaxation rate, and motor neuron discharge that results in an optimization of force; and 4) sense of effort to determine the role of effort in the impairment of performance. On the basis of this perspective with an emphasis on neural mechanisms, we suggest a number of experiments to advance our understanding of the neurobiology of muscle fatigue.

Neurobiology of muscle fatigue.

Skeletal muscle adaptability : Significance for metabolism and performance

The sections in this article are:


1
Motor Unit
1.1
Fibers per Motor Unit

1.2
Contractile Properties

1.3
Biochemical Basis for Differences in Twitch Properties

1.4
Histochemical Differentiation of Muscle Fibers

1.5
Ultrastructural Basis for Skeletal Muscle Fiber Typing

1.6
Maximal Contractile Force

1.7
Speed of Contraction

1.8
Fatigue Characteristics

1.9
Metabolic Characteristics

1.10
Ionic Composition of Skeletal Muscle

1.11
Summary




2
Muscle Fiber Composition in Human Skeletal Muscle

3
Motor-Unit Recruitment

4
Adaptive Response in Skeletal Muscle
4.1
Muscle Size

4.2
Metabolic Capacity




5
Connective Tissue

6
Capillaries
6.1
Methodology

6.2
Anatomy

6.3
Capillary Density

6.4
Capillary Length and Diameter

6.5
Use and Disuse

6.6
Regulation




7
Significance of Adaptation
7.1
Muscular Size

7.2
Substrate Stores

7.3
Enzyme Activities

7.4
Summary

Skeletal Muscle Adaptability: Significance for Metabolism and Performance

1. The adaptations of the ankle dorsiflexor muscles and the behaviour of single motor units in the tibialis anterior in response to 12 weeks of dynamic training were studied in five human subjects. In each training session ten series of ten fast dorsiflexions were performed 5 days a week, against a load of 30-40% of the maximal muscle strength. 2. Training led to an enhancement of maximal voluntary muscle contraction (MVC) and the speed of voluntary ballistic contraction. This last enhancement was mainly related to neural adaptations since the time course of the muscle twitch induced by electrical stimulation remained unaffected. 3. The motor unit torque, recorded by the spike-triggered averaging method, increased without any change in its time to peak. The orderly motor unit recruitment (size principle) was preserved during slow ramp contraction after training but the units were activated earlier and had a greater maximal firing frequency during voluntary ballistic contractions. In addition, the high frequency firing rate observed at the onset of the contractions was maintained during the subsequent spikes after training. 4. Dynamic training induced brief (2-5 ms) motor unit interspike intervals, or 'doublets'. These doublets appeared to be different from the closely spaced (+/-10 ms) discharges usually observed at the onset of the ballistic contractions. Motor units with different recruitment thresholds showed doublet discharges and the percentage of the sample of units firing doublets was increased by training from 5.2 to 32.7%. The presence of these discharges was observed not only at the onset of the series of spikes but also later in the electromyographic (EMG) burst. 5. It is likely that earlier motor unit activation, extra doublets and enhanced maximal firing rate contribute to the increase in the speed of voluntary muscle contraction after dynamic training.

https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-7793.1998.295by.x

Changes in single motor unit behaviour contribute to the increase in contraction speed after dynamic training in humans

1. The electrical activity of up to eight concurrently active motor units has been recorded from the human deltoid and first dorsal interosseous (f.d.i.) muscles. The detected myoelectric signals have been decomposed into their constituent motor-unit action potential trains using a recently developed technique.

2. Concurrently active motor unit behaviour has been examined during triangular force-varying isometric contractions reaching 40 and 80% of maximal voluntary contraction (m.v.c.). Experiments were performed on four normal subjects and three groups of highly trained performers (long-distance swimmers, powerlifters and pianists).

3. Results revealed a highly ordered recruitment and decruitment scheme, based on motoneurone excitability, in both muscles and in all subject groups.

4. Differences were observed between the initial (recruitment) and final (decruitment) firing rates in each muscle. These parameters were invariant with respect to the force rates studied, although some differences were observed among subject groups.

5. In general, firing rates of f.d.i. motor units increased steadily with increasing force (up to 80% m.v.c.). The firing rates of deltoid motor units rose sharply just after recruitment and then increased only slightly thereafter.

6. Recruitment was found to be the major mechanism for generating extra force between 40 and 80% m.v.c. in the deltoid, while rate coding played the major role in the f.d.i.

7. The potential of rate coding for increasing force levels up to m.v.c. is discussed.

L.P. Kudina

Papers

Discharge frequency and discharge pattern of human motor units during voluntary contraction of muscle

Cross-correlation of electromyograms showing interference patterns

Repetitive doublets of human motoneurones: analysis of interspike intervals and recruitment pattern.

Reflex effects of muscle afferents on antagonist studied on single firing motor units in man

After-potentials and control of repetitive firing in human motoneurones.