Key result
Breath-holding links to abrupt rectus abdominis activation in professional versus gradual intercostal activation in recreational athletes.
Why the study?
Does wavelet analysis of respiratory muscle sEMG signals during breath-holding reveal differences in muscle activation patterns between professional and recreational athletes?
Observational (n=12)
Does wavelet analysis of respiratory muscle sEMG signals during breath-holding reveal differences in muscle activation patterns between professional and recreational athletes?
Wavelet analysis of respiratory muscle sEMG during breath-holding reveals distinct time-frequency activation patterns between professional and recreational athletes, potentially offering a non-invasive assessment of muscle oxygenation and physical fitness.
The wavelet spectral characteristics of three respiratory muscle signals (Scalenus (SC), Parasternal intercostal (IC) and Rectus abdominis (RA)) and one locomotor muscle Brachioradialis (BR) were analyzed in the time-frequency (T-F) domain during breath-holding (BH). Study was performed for an end-expiratory BH maneuver on twelve healthy, physically active, naive apneists (6 professional athletes; 6 recreational athletes, two in the post-COVID-19 period) using surface electromyography (sEMG). We observe individual effects dependent on muscle oxygenation and person’s fitness, consistent with the mechanism of motor unit (MU) recruitment and the transition of slow-twitch oxidative (type 1) to fast-twitch (oxidative) glycolytic (type 2) muscle fibers. Professional athletes had longer BH duration (BHD) and strong hypercapnic response on expiratory RA, which is activated abruptly at higher BHDs in a person-specific range below 250 Hz and dependent on BHD. This is in contrast with recreational athletes, who had strong hypoxic response on inspiratory IC, which is activated faster and gradually in the frequency range of 250-450 Hz (independent of the apneist and BHD). This pilot study preliminarily indicates that it is possible to non-invasively assess the physiological characteristics of skeletal muscles, especially oxygenation, and improve physical fitness tests by determining T-F features of elevated myoelectric IC and RA activity during BH.
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Mišić et al. (2023) conducted an observational in Healthy, physically active, naive apneists (n=12). End-expiratory breath-holding maneuver vs. Professional vs recreational athletes was evaluated on Wavelet spectral characteristics of respiratory muscle sEMG signals. During end-expiratory breath-holding, professional athletes showed abrupt rectus abdominis activation below 250 Hz, whereas recreational athletes exhibited gradual intercostal activation at 250-450 Hz.
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