Isokinetic and Isometric Strength after Electrical Stimulation on Judo Players

IntroductionIn recent years there is an increasing interest in electrical stimulation of skeletal muscles in athletes. Achievement of a top level in sports and the increasing intensity of the struggle for the high rank and gold medals needs more than super performances for athlete aiming at international champion, evidence were provided that former Soviet Union have been used the method of electrical stimulation in preparing national teams for the 1972 Munchen Olympics game and other important competition (Ward & Shakuratova, 2002). In the sphere of sports the method of electrical stimulation as a training protocol is studied most intensively by Soviet authors such as (Kotz & Chullon, 1975., Adrianova , Koz, Martjanova & Chwilon,1974) this work is concerned above all with the problem of selection of suitable parameters for electrical stimulation of muscle, their aim being to obtain artificial maximum muscular contraction as a response to electrical stimulation involve stimulating the muscle with a complex protocol that is designed to minimize the pain and discomfort associated with this procedure. The Soviets reportedly use electrical stimulation with their best athletes in sports where strength is a limiting factor for example weight lifting, wrestling, sprinting, and throwing events. Steib, Schoene, Pfeifer (2010) demonstrated that the greatest effect as regards an increase in muscular strength and perseverance of strength is obtained by intensive electrical stimulation applied daily, in sedentary subjects not engaged in sports they achieved an increase of muscular strength by a mean of 16%, of dynamic strength, by 25% and perseverance of achieved strength by 94%, contrary to electrical stimulation applied only twice a week, when the corresponding increments were only 9%, 6% and perseverance of achieved strength by 32%. Interestingly, some authors have observed that an electro stimulation training program carried out in isometric conditions can increase both isometric and dynamic strength (Martin, Cometti, Pousson & Morton, 1993; Pichon, Chatard, Martin & Comtti, 1995; Colson, Martin & Hoeck, 2000). This non specificity of the isometric contraction mode in training sessions might be ascribable to the nonselective recruitment of motor units (i.e., a partial reversal order as compared with voluntary contractions )Solomonow, 1984; Knaflitz , Merletti & Deluca,1990; Feiereisen, Duchateau & Hainaut,1997; Gregory & Bickel, 2005). Halbach & Straus (1980) demonstrated in a sedentary group of young healthy subjects that electrical stimulation is a suitable method not only for developing muscle strength and tonus but that it may become also a suitable method for reduction of subcutaneous fat. Anzil, Modotto & Zanon (1974) achieved considerable improvement of the explosive strength during the start in 100 m sprinters after electrical stimulation of the muscles of the sole of the foot.This method is particularly is very important and valuable, although not yet fully appreciated in the sphere of rehabilitation, e. g. the case of the top jumper Enzo del Forno who after surgical operation of the right knee meniscus used one third of the time given by his doctors for convalescence for electrical stimulation to preserve the standard of his static and dynamic strength.Also among the therapeutic modalities, neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is presented as a non-invasive technique used by physical therapists to promote muscle strengthening, to minimize muscle hypotrophy, to reduce muscle spasm and spasticity and to increase range of motion in the joint. Particularly, with respect to knee osteoarthritis (OA) treatment, neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) has been suggested as an alternative therapy for quadriceps muscle strengthening, mainly when elderly present chronic pain and joint stiffness, which prevent them from engaging in voluntary exercises. …