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NCT Number: NCT06627491

Influence of Fast and Slow Imagined Muscle Contractions on Muscle Function or Central Nervous System Properties

The goal of this randomized clinical trial is to learn if imagining fast or slow muscle contractions causes different responses for nervous system excitability and muscle function in young, healthy males and females in. The main questions are:

Does imagining fast muscle contractions cause greater nervous system excitability compared to imagining slow muscle contractions?

Does imagining fast muscle contractions increase muscle function compared to imagining slow muscle contractions?

A control condition (rest) will be compared with two intervention conditions: imagining fast and imagining slow conditions, to determine if the fast and slow increase outcomes more than control and if fast has the greatest response.

Participants will:

* Attend 4 laboratory visits * Perform 50 imagined contractions fast or slow, but with no physical movement * Physical muscle contractions and non-invasive brain stimulation would be completed before and after each condition.

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Key information

Conditions

Healthy Nervous System Diseases Neurologic Manifestations Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Signs and Symptoms

Age range

18 year–30 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Kennesaw State University

Kennesaw, Georgia, 30144, United States

Location status: Recruiting

Location contact

Garrett Hester, Ph.D.

CONTACT

[email protected]

470-578-4267

Garrett Hester, Ph.D.

CONTACT

About this study

Participants will complete 4 laboratory visits in a randomized order, including a familiarization session, a control condition, and 2 conditions involving imaginary muscle contractions. During visits involving imaginary muscle contractions, participants will complete 2 sets of 25 repetitions of either fast (i.e., less than 1 second to peak torque increase torque as fast as possible) or slow (i.e., 3 seconds to peak torque) isometric elbow flexions. Before and after each condition, single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation will be delivered to the primary motor cortex to measure the amplitude of motor-evoked potentials and the duration of the resulting silent periods in the bicep brachii to quantify changes in corticospinal excitability and inhibition, respectively. Rapid maximal voluntary isometric contractions will be used to measure changes in rate of torque development, peak torque, and rate of muscle activation.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Be between the ages of 18 - 30
  • Healthy (no medical conditions)
  • If female, must be taking the same monophasic oral contraceptive for the past 6 months
  • Have a body mass index between 18.5 - 30 kg/m2
  • Have not performed structured cardiovascular or resistance exercise in past 3 years
  • Be right-handed
  • Not currently taking stimulants, antipsychotic, anxiety, or depression medications
  • Have not suffered an upper extremity musculoskeletal injury within the past year

Exclusion criteria

  • If transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is not deemed appropriate depending on your responses to the TMS-specific questionnaire
  • Being ambidextrous
  • Although rare, you will be excluded if discernable muscle activation responses are not possible via TMS

Treatment and study plan

Imagined muscle contractions

Behavioral

The intervention involved imagining, with no physical movement, of muscle contractions.

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in rate of torque development as measured by newton-meters per second

    Time frame: Baseline, minute 20

    A measure of the capacity to increase muscle torque rapidly as determined by the slope of the torque-time curve

  2. Change in nervous system excitability as measured by electromyographic waveform aplitude following motor cortex stimulation

    Time frame: Baseline, minute 20

    A measure of excitability for the corticospinal tract

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change in isometric bicep strength as measured by newton-meters of torque

    Time frame: Baseline, minute 20

    Isometric strength of a muscle

  2. Change in agonist muscle activation as measured by electromyography amplitude

    Time frame: Baseline, minute 20

    A measure of the capacity at which the muscle is activated by the nervous system

  3. Change in antagonist co-activation as measured by electromyography amplitude

    Time frame: Baseline, minute 20

    A measure of the capacity at which the antagonist muscle is activated by the nervous system

  4. Change in rate of agonist muscle activation as measured by electromyography amplitude

    Time frame: Baseline, minute 20

    A measure of how quickly the nervous system activates the muscle

  5. Change in nervous system inhibition as measured by electromyographic waveform aplitude following motor cortex stimulation

    Time frame: Baseline, minute 20

    A measure of inhibition for the corticospinal tract

Other outcomes

  1. Self-reported ability to imagine movements as measured by Movement Imagery Questionnaire-Revised as measured on a scale from 8 to 56

    Time frame: Baseline

    Survey that estimates one's capacity to imagine movement. A higher score indicates better imagination.

  2. Level of vividness for imagining the imagined contractions as measured by 7-point likert scale as measured from 1 to 7

    Time frame: 20 minutes after baseline

    A 7-point likert scale is used to to determine how vivid one's imagination was for the conditions. A higher score indicates greater difficulty imagining the movement.

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Garrett Hester, Ph.D.

CONTACT

[email protected]

470-578-4267

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Kennesaw State University

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Does the Speed of Imagined Muscle Contractions Affect Muscle Function and Central Nervous System Excitability?

Important dates

Study start
2024
Primary completion
2025
Study completion
2025
First posted
Oct 4, 2024
Registry last updated
Oct 9, 2024

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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