Use the Back button in your browser to see the other results of your search or to select another record.

Detailed Search Results

Prevention of quadriceps wasting after immobilization: an evaluation of the effect of electrical stimulation
Arvidsson I, Arvidsson H, Eriksson E, Jansson E
Orthopedics 1986 Nov;9(11):1519-1528
clinical trial
4/10 [Eligibility criteria: No; Random allocation: Yes; Concealed allocation: No; Baseline comparability: No; Blind subjects: No; Blind therapists: No; Blind assessors: No; Adequate follow-up: Yes; Intention-to-treat analysis: No; Between-group comparisons: Yes; Point estimates and variability: Yes. Note: Eligibility criteria item does not contribute to total score] *This score has been confirmed*

Eighteen male and 20 female patients who underwent reconstruction of their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) with a flap from the patellar tendon were randomly assigned into either closed cast, isometric muscle training and electric stimulation (ES group), or closed cast and isometric training alone (control group). The degree of quadriceps wasting was determined from computerized tomographic scans (CT) before and 6 weeks after surgery. Electrical stimulation was given with a battery operated stimulator that produced a rectangular asymmetric balanced biphasic pulse shape. The pulse rate was 40 Hz and the pulse width 300 microseconds. Patients received 30 min of stimulation three times daily during 5.5 weeks. Female control patients showed a larger decrease in quadriceps area on CT than male control patients (p < 0.001). No significant difference was found between male electrically stimulated patients and control patients. In female patients, there was on the contrary, a highly significant difference in favor of electrical stimulation (p < 0.001) When the different parts of the quadriceps were studied, a significantly lower degree of atrophy of the vastus medialis was found after electrical stimulation. Vastus lateralis did not show any difference. Measurements of CT attenuation, pre- and post-operatively, showed a decrease in attenuation of 17% for the vastus medialis and lateralis of the operated leg after immobilization, indicating an increase in fat content. In the rectus femoris, however, there was an increase in attenuation of 14.6%. Percutaneous muscle biopsies from the vastus lateralis obtained before, one week after, and 6 weeks after surgery revealed that the cross-sectional area of the individual muscle fibers decreased less in the electrically stimulated than in controls, but the difference was not significant. There were no differences between the two groups in the activity of an oxidative enzyme, citrate synthase, or a glycolytic enzyme, phosphofructokinase (PFK). We conclude that females reacted more favorably than males to electrical stimulation of quadriceps during an immobilization period after knee surgery.
Reprinted with permission from SLACK Incorporated.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help