Respiratory, cardiac and metabolic responses during electrical muscle stimulation in quadriceps muscle versus comparable voluntary muscle contractions

Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) and voluntary muscle contraction (VMC) are both acceptable rehabilitative modalities to preserve muscle strength loss. The study aimed to compare respiratory, metabolic, and cardiac parameters during quadriceps muscle contraction (QMC) using either EMS or VMC with comparable generated low intensity muscle force. Thirty healthy non-smoker males, age 20–58 years with normal BMI and low to moderate physical activity, underwent two 20-min sessions of comparable QMC using EMS vs VMC at the same day. The BIODEX III isokinetic dynamometer was used to assess maximum isometric force and the comparable force generated during each condition (EMS vs VMC), while the METAMAX 3B portable metabolic system was used to measure continuously the physiological parameters. Tolerable EMS was used (mean: 33 ± 1.5 mA, at 75 Hz). Each contraction lasted 10 sec followed by 20 sec rest. Paired t-tests were used for comparisons between sessions. A relatively low proportion of maximum isometric force (EMS: 8.5% vs VMC: 8.6%) and torque (EMS: 16 ± 1.3 vs VMC: 16 ± 1.1 Nm) were generated during each session. Mean minute ventilation (EMS: 10.8 L vs VMC: 9.8 L), tidal volume (EMS: 0.6 L vs VMC: 0.5 L), O2 uptake (EMS: 0.31 L/min vs VMC: 0.26 L/min) and O2 pulse (EMS: 3.9 ml/beat vs VMC: 3.6 ml/beat) were different between sessions (p ≤ .05); while heart rate (EMS: 72 beats/min vs VMC: 71 beats/min) was equal. Quadriceps muscle EMS induces higher respiratory and metabolic responses compared to equal magnitude VMC in healthy males.