ABSTRACTEditor's note: Electrical stimulation units, line or battery powered, are medical devices regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and their use is stipulated by state law. The Food and Drug Administration's Center for Devices and Radiological Health regulates electric muscle stimulators as prescription medical devices to be used only by or on the order of a licensed health care practitioner. The scientific literature is somewhat equivocal on the use of electrical stimulation devices for the purpose of strength training. Essentially, electrical stimulation producing an involuntary muscle contraction can result in isometric strength gains comparable to but not greater than those produced by exercise alone or in combination with stimulation. As with other forms of active exercise, gains are greatest in the case of greatest muscle weakness. Enhanced force developing capacity is position specific as occurs with active isometric training and is mediated through primarily improved neural recruitment, not morphological change.Electrical stimulation can play a useful supplementary role in several aspects of physical conditioning, provided its theoretical foundation and pratical scope are clearly understood, and appropriate machines and stimulation protocols are used within the framework of a carefully periodized training program.In applying eletrostimulation, one should realize that its effectiveness depends heavily on the electrical waveforms being applied; in particular, their shape, frequency, type of modulation, energy, interpulse interval and duration. In this respect, machine design is determined by the specific physiological model used to describe neuromuscular activity. Traditional machines are based on the action-potential model, whereas newer machines are based on semi- conduction or biologically closed electric circuit (BCEC) models.A better understanding eletrostimulation may be achieved if one classifies it into macrostimulation, which acts as a stressor leading to subsequent supercompensation, and microstimulation.
Editor's note: Electrical stimulation units, line or battery powered, are medical devices regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and their use is stipulated by state law. The Food and Drug Administration's Center for Devices and Radiological Health regulates electric muscle stimulators as prescription medical devices to be used only by or on the order of a licensed health care practitioner. The scientific literature is somewhat equivocal on the use of electrical stimulation devices for the purpose of strength training. Essentially, electrical stimulation producing an involuntary muscle contraction can result in isometric strength gains comparable to but not greater than those produced by exercise alone or in combination with stimulation. As with other forms of active exercise, gains are greatest in the case of greatest muscle weakness. Enhanced force developing capacity is position specific as occurs with active isometric training and is mediated through primarily improved neural recruitment, not morphological change.
Electrical stimulation can play a useful supplementary role in several aspects of physical conditioning, provided its theoretical foundation and pratical scope are clearly understood, and appropriate machines and stimulation protocols are used within the framework of a carefully periodized training program.
In applying eletrostimulation, one should realize that its effectiveness depends heavily on the electrical waveforms being applied; in particular, their shape, frequency, type of modulation, energy, interpulse interval and duration. In this respect, machine design is determined by the specific physiological model used to describe neuromuscular activity. Traditional machines are based on the action-potential model, whereas newer machines are based on semi- conduction or biologically closed electric circuit (BCEC) models.
A better understanding eletrostimulation may be achieved if one classifies it into macrostimulation, which acts as a stressor leading to subsequent supercompensation, and microstimulation.
© 1990 National Strength and Conditioning Association
