DOI: 10.5061/dryad.63xsj3vbw
title: A session of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation changes the input-output function of motoneurons and alters the sense of force

description: Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is commonly used in
 research and clinical settings for pain management and augmenting
 somatosensory inputs for motor recovery. Besides its functional effect,
 TENS acutely alters kinesthesia and force steadiness. However, the
 short-term impact following a session of TENS on proprioception and motor
 unit behavior is unknown. We evaluated the effect of a session of TENS on
 the senses of force, joint position, touch, and discharge activity of
 motor units. Fifteen healthy participants underwent two experiments, each
 with two visits randomly administering TENS or sham-TENS. The sense of
 force (Exp. 1) and position (Exp. 2) were evaluated through matching
 trials by pinching a dial and rotating their wrist (ulnar deviation).
 Isometric pinch contractions were performed before and after the session
 of TENS or sham-TENS, in which electromyographic signals were recorded
 from the first dorsal interosseus (FDI) and abductor pollicis brevis
 (APB). Results showed that TENS acutely altered the senses of force,
 position, and touch, but only the sense of force remained altered
 following TENS. Motor unit discharge rates increased in both FDI and APB
 muscles for the same force output following TENS. A positive correlation
 was also observed between motor unit discharge rates and errors in force
 perception. These findings suggest that a session of TENS may have
 short-term effects on the input/output function of motoneurons (5 - 10 min
 in this study), which in turn may alter the sense of force. However, the
 precise timeline for these short-term aftereffects is unknown.
description: The data was collected using a custom built experimental setup
 that integrated EMG acquisition systems and custom softwares to interact
 and record relevant data from the participants. Following data collection,
 all data from different participants and visits were preprocessed and
 compiled to a uniform dataset for post-processing. Post-processing details
 have been detailed in the associated manuscript
description: # A session of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation changes the
 input-output function of motoneurons and alters the sense of force
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.63xsj3vbw](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.63xsj3vbw) ## Description of the data and file structure The data in the JNP_Data.xls file has been organized based on the variables assessed in the manuscript. Contact Jose L Pons([jpons@sralab.org](mailto:jpons@sralab.org)) with any questions. This manuscript has been accepted for publication in Journal of Neurophysiology (03/19/2025) Data files include: #### File: JNP\_Data.xlsx #### File: Suppl\_Fig\_1\_submit.pdf #### File: Suppl\_Table\_1.pdf **Description:**  This xlsx file contains data on the effect of TENS on proprioception and neural control of force. All data were collected by the authors. Proprioception assessments were performed using target matching trials, where a learned force or position was reproduced over the duration of the experimental visit with various interventions applied. Three types of perceptions were evaluated using three tasks: Force, Position, and Touch perception. The assessments were performed at various time points. Neural control of force was evaluated using the extracted motor units from the high-density electromyography and computing outcome measures such as Discharge rates, Intramuscular coherence, and Force steadiness. The data is divided into multiple sheets on the xlsx file as described below. Some of the cells are denote as "NaN", where outcome measures weren't synthesized due to no motor units that were matched across conditions ##### Variables The first sheet (Force Perception) contains the change in mean absolute and mean constant for the Force perception assessments. The variables are organized as follows: | variables | units | description | | :---------- | :---------: | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Participant | categorical | Participant IDs | | Time | categorical | Time point of relative assessments: Acute - Intervention vs Baseline; Short-term - Post vs Baseline | | Assessment | categorical | Type of assessments: Force is related to force perception | | Condition | categorical | Types of interventions administered: NoStim (Sham) or Stim | | AE | number | Change in mean absolute error | | CE | number | Change in mean constant error | The second sheet (Position Perception) contains the change in mean absolute and mean constant for the Position perception assessments. The variables are organized as follows: | variables | units | description | | :---------- | :---------: | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Participant | categorical | Participant IDs | | Time | categorical | Time point of relative assessments: Acute - Intervention vs Baseline; Short-term - Post vs Baseline | | Assessment | categorical | Type of assessments: Position is related to Position perception | | Condition | categorical | Types of interventions administered: NoStim (Sham) or Stim | | AE | number | Change in mean absolute error | | CE | number | Change in mean constant error | The third sheet (Touch Perception) contains the change in Roshen scores for the Touch perception assessments. The variables are organized as follows: | variables | units | description | | :----------- | :---------: | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Participant | categorical | Participant IDs | | Time | categorical | Time point of relative assessments: Acute - Intervention vs Baseline; Short-term - Post vs Baseline | | Condition | categorical | Types of interventions administered: NoStim (Sham) or Stim | | Site | categorical | Site on the hand where the assessment was performed | | Roshen score | number | Change in Roshen score | The fourth sheet (Correlation_Force vs Position) contains the correlation between Force and Position perception assessments. The variables are organized as follows: | variables | units | description | | :----------- | :---------: | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Participant | categorical | Participant IDs | | Time | categorical | Time point of relative assessments: Acute - Intervention vs Baseline; Short-term - Post vs Baseline | | Condition | categorical | Types of interventions administered: NoStim (Sham) or Stim | | Force\_AE | number | Change in mean absolute error for Force assessments | | Force\_CE | number | Change in mean constant error for Force assessments | | Position\_AE | number | Change in mean absolute error for Position assessments | | Position\_CE | number | Change in mean constant error for Position assessments | The fifth sheet (Correlation_Force vs Touch) contains the correlation between Force and Touch perception assessments. The variables are organized as follows: | variables | units | description | | :----------- | :---------: | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Participant | categorical | Participant IDs | | Time | categorical | Time point of relative assessments: Acute - Intervention vs Baseline; Short-term - Post vs Baseline | | Condition | categorical | Types of interventions administered: NoStim (Sham) or Stim | | Force\_AE | number | Change in mean absolute error for Force assessments | | Force\_CE | number | Change in mean constant error for Force assessments | | Roshen score | number | Change in Roshen score | The sixth sheet (Correlation_Position vs Touch) contains the correlation between Position and Touch perception assessments. The variables are organized as follows: | variables | units | description | | :----------- | :---------: | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Participant | categorical | Participant IDs | | Time | categorical | Time point of relative assessments: Acute - Intervention vs Baseline; Short-term - Post vs Baseline | | Condition | categorical | Types of interventions administered: NoStim (Sham) or Stim | | Position\_AE | number | Change in mean absolute error for Position assessments | | Position\_CE | number | Change in mean constant error for Position assessments | | Roshen score | number | Change in Roshen score | The seventh sheet (Force steadiness) contains the estimates of coefficient of variation for the FDI and APB muscles. The variables are organized as follows: | variables | units | description | | :---------- | :---------: | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Participant | categorical | Participant IDs | | Condition | categorical | Types of interventions administered: NoStim (Sham) or Stim | | Time | categorical | Time point of assessments: PRE or POST | | Muscle | categorical | Muscle being assessed: FDI - First Dorsal Interrosseus or APB - Abductor Pollicis Brevis | | CoV | number | Coefficient of variation | The eighth sheet (Coherence) contains the estimates of Intramuscular coherence for the FDI and APB muscles in the 0-10 Hz frequency band. The variables are organized as follows: | variables | units | description | | :------------------ | :---------: | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Participant | categorical | Participant IDs | | Time | categorical | Time point of assessments: PRE or POST | | Condition | categorical | Types of interventions administered: NoStim (Sham) or Stim | | Muscle | categorical | Muscle being assessed: FDI - First Dorsal Interrosseus or APB - Abductor Pollicis Brevis | | Coherence (0-10 Hz) | number | Intramuscular coherence in the 0-10Hz frequency band | The ninth sheet (MU Discharge rates) contains the estimates of mean discharge rates of motor units for the FDI and APB muscles. The variables are organized as follows: | variables | units | description | | :---------- | :---------: | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Participant | categorical | Participant IDs | | Time | categorical | Time point of assessments: PRE or POST | | Condition | categorical | Types of interventions administered: NoStim (Sham) or Stim | | Muscle | categorical | Muscle being assessed: FDI - First Dorsal Interrosseus or APB - Abductor Pollicis Brevis | | DR | number | Mean discharge rates of motor units | The tenth sheet (Correlation_Force vs DR) contains the estimates of change in mean constant errors in Force perception and change in mean discharge rates of motor units for the FDI and APB muscles. The variables are organized as follows: | variables | units | description | | :---------------- | :---------: | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Participant | categorical | Participant IDs | | Time | categorical | Time point of assessments: Short-term | | Muscle | categorical | Muscle being assessed: FDI - First Dorsal Interrosseus or APB - Abductor Pollicis Brevis | | Condition | categorical | Types of interventions administered: NoStim (Sham) or Stim | | Errors in Force | number | Percent change in mean constant errors in Force perception in the Short-term | | % Change in MU DR | number | Percent change in mean discharge rates in motor unit | The eleventh sheet (Correlation_Force vs CoV vs Coh) contains the estimates of change in mean constant errors in Force perception, change in coefficient of variation (Force steadiness) and change in coherence for the FDI and APB muscles. The variables are organized as follows: | variables | units | description | | :-------------- | :---------: | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Participant | categorical | Participant IDs | | Time | categorical | Time point of assessments: Short-term | | Muscle | categorical | Muscle being assessed: FDI - First Dorsal Interrosseus or APB - Abductor Pollicis Brevis | | Condition | categorical | Types of interventions administered: NoStim (Sham) or Stim | | Errors in Force | number | Percent change in mean constant errors in Force perception in the Short-term | | % Change in CoV | number | Percent change in coefficient of variation | | % Change in Coh | number | Percent change in coherence | The twelfth sheet (Correlation_CoV vs Coh vs DR) contains the estimates of change in coefficient of variation (Force steadiness), change in coherence, and change in mean discharge rates of motor units for the FDI and APB muscles. The variables are organized as follows: | variables | units | description | | :---------------- | :---------: | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Participant | categorical | Participant IDs | | Condition | categorical | Types of interventions administered: NoStim (Sham) or Stim | | Muscle | categorical | Muscle being assessed: FDI - First Dorsal Interrosseus or APB - Abductor Pollicis Brevis | | % Change in CoV | number | Percent change in coefficient of variation | | % Change in Coh | number | Percent change in coherence | | % Change in MU DR | number | Percent change in mean discharge rates in motor unit | Additional files pertaining to the supplementary materials (Supplementary Figure, Supplementary table) can be accessed at the following link: [https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14510942](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14510942) Supplemetary figure (Suppl_Fig_1_submit.pdf) depicts the effect of training across participants during the training block on the errors in Force (A) and Position (B) perception assessments through target matching trials. The target force and joint position were learned and memorized by the participants which was replicated throughout the rest of the experiments. Supplementary table (Suppl_Table_1.pdf) describes the conversion of filament sizes and the amount of force exterted by each monofilament into Roshen scores that were used to assess Touch perception. It also includes the appropriate Interpretation of force exerted and detection by participant for each monofilament. The variables in the table are organized as follows: | variables | units | description | | :------------- | :----: | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Filament size | number | Size of each monofilament | | Force (gm) | number | Force exerted by each monofilament when applied onto the hand areas in grams | | Interpretation | text | Interpretation of the detection of each monofilament by the participant | | Roshen score | number | Roshen score values |