Effect of Fatigue on Neuromuscular Function at the Ankle

Abstract

Context:Lateral ankle sprains occur more frequently than any other orthopedic injury. Athletes often report sustaining more injuries late in competition when fatigue is present.Objective:To evaluate neuromuscular function of the ankle musculature after fatigue. Design: Experimental, pretest-posttest.Setting:Research laboratory.Participants:Ten female and 9 male college-aged subjects.Intervention:Fatigue was induced via continuous concentric and eccentric muscle actions of the ankle: inversion (INV), eversion (EV), plantar flexion (PF), and dorsiflexion (DF).Main Outcome Measures:Peak torque (PT), peak EMG, and median frequency (MF) were calculated prefatigue and postfatigue in the tibialis anterior (TA), peroneus longus (PER), and lateral gastrocnemius (GAS) muscles.Results:Main effects were noted for test (P < 0.0125) in all statistical tests performed indicating changes in PT, peak EMG, and MF after fatigue.Conclusions:A significant decrease in MF of the PER muscle after PF fatigue and corresponding with a decreased firing rate, may be of importance, especially with regard to the role in countering the violent moment seen with inversion ankle sprains.