Acupuncture and Dry Needling in the Reduction of Peripheral Acute Fatigue Induced in the Biceps Braquii: Protocol for a Single-blinded Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.

The present study aims to propose a protocol to verify the efficacy and acute effects of traditional Chinese acupuncture, dry needling, and the rest in peripheral acute fatigue (PAF) induced by intermittent isometric contractions of the nondominant biceps brachii (BB) of nonphysically active men in a randomized, single-blind clinical trial assessed with surface electromyography, contraction time in seconds, infrared thermal imaging, and visual analog scale applied to the PAF. These instruments will evaluate the median frequency, endurance time, temperature (°C), and perceived fatigue in BB of the volunteers. The measurements will be collected in four moments (Test 0, 01, 02, and 03) divided between the beginning and the end of two sets of exercises (Exercises 01 and 02) of intermittent isometric contractions. TRIAL IDENTIFIER: NCT03448120 in www.clinicaltrials.gov.

Acute effects of whole-body vibration on spinal excitability level and ankle plantar flexion spasticity in post-stroke individuals: A randomized controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to evaluate the acute effects (up to 30 min) of whole-body vibration (WBV) on spinal excitability level and ankle plantar flexion spasticity in chronic stroke subjects. METHODS: Twenty-one subjects (age 30-70 years old) with chronic stroke and ankle plantar flexion spasticity were randomly assigned to the vibration group (VG, n = 11) or the control group (CG, n = 10). Subjects in the VG underwent 10 minutes of WBV with a frequency of 35 Hz and amplitude of 2 mm. Subjects in the CG remained on the platform for 10 min without receiving vibratory stimulus. The spinal excitability level was estimated by the Hmax/Mmax ratio extracted from the H-reflex with simple stimulus examination. The value of the second/first wave ratio (H2/H1 ratio) at the peak of the first facilitation was also considered through the recovery curve with double stimulation. Spasticity was estimated by the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and global perception of change. All outcomes were assessed before and at 10, 20, and 30 min after the WBV, except for MAS, which was evaluated only 10 min after WBV. RESULTS: No between-group differences were found in either the spinal excitability level or plantar flexor spasticity at the three evaluated moments after WBV. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that WBV does not reduce spinal excitability level or spasticity of the plantar flexor muscles in chronic stroke patients in the first 30 min after vibratory stimulus.

Upper limbs total occlusion pressure assessment: Doppler ultrasound reproducibility and determination of predictive variables.

Total occlusion pressure (TOP) is an important variable to ischaemic exercise training because the optimal pressure of flow restriction (OPR), applied during this exercise modality, is derived from it. Despite the common use of Doppler ultrasound (DU) to determine the TOP, the reproducibility of this assessment was not evaluated yet. Given this, the objective was to evaluate the reproducibility of DU for the measurement of TOP in upper limbs and determine the predictive variables. Thirteen male volunteers attended three times to the laboratory. On the 1st day, we assessed arm circumference (AC), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic (DBP), and brachial artery TOP. On 2nd and 3rd days, only TOP was assessed. We found a coefficient of variation of 5·6% and an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0·795 for the DU. In the analysis of TOP predictive variables, the Spearman coefficients (R) were 0·813 (SBP), 0·786 (DBP) and 0·388 (AC). Therefore, these results support that DU has good reproducibility for the TOP and that SBP and DBP should be considered to the determination of TOP in upper limbs.