Effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on skeletal muscle size and function in patients with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy

Abstract

This is the first study to evaluate whether neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) can be used as an exercise surrogate to improve skeletal muscle fiber size or function in cancer patients receiving treatment. We show that NMES promoted muscle fiber hypertrophy and fiber types shift but had minimal effects on single-fiber contractility and reduced subsarcolemmal mitochondria.