Electromyographic Biofeedback Muscle Recovery Meniscectomy

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Electromyographic biofeedback (EMG-BF) is a therapeutic technique that has been used success-fully in rehabilitation of injuries. Although it has been applied in athletes, its use in this field is not very widespread. The objective of this study is to analyze its effectiveness in the recovery of electromyographic activity of the quadriceps after meniscectomy, evaluated through isometric contraction of the vastus lateralis. The sample comprised ten professional footballers in the Spanish League (2nd Division A) who had previously suffered a meniscus injury in their knee and had undergone a meniscectomy. The intervention consisted of EMG-BF treatment lasting between 6 and 10 sessions. The electromyographic signal was recorded using a Thought Tech-nology ProComp Infiniti 8-channel biofeedback unit with a sampling rate of 2048 sam-ples/seconds. For each session a within-subject ABA design of 6 or 10 trials per session was used, with three pre- and three post-measures, which determined the gain for each session.

Official Title
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Efficacy of Electromyographic Biofeedback in Muscle Recovery After Meniscectomy in Soccer Players

Conditions
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Feedback, Psychological

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Electromyographic Biofeedback


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Partial meniscus tear Meniscectomy Exclusion Criteria: Having an injury other than a partial meniscus tear

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 24 Years
Maximum Age: 35 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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Male

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Experimental data<br> | Other: Electromyographic Biofeedback<br>* The players performed 10 work sessions with EMG-BF. Each session was divided into three phases: (a) three trials without receiving feedback, (b) between six and ten trials with feedback of electromyographic activity, (c) three trials without feedback. In each trial, isometric contractions of the vastus lateralis were performed. During maximum effort isometric contraction, the software associated with the ProComp Infiniti biofeedback unit collects the amplitude, the mean and maximum electromyographic signal, and also the contraction and tightening times. The contrac-tion time comprises the interval between the start of the contraction and achievement of the desired muscle tension. The tightening time is the period in which the tension voluntarily reached is maintained. For this study, the maximum and mean elec-tromyographic activity values were considered, calculated during the muscle tension time and maintained during each trial.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Changes in muscle tension level | Using electrommiographic biofeedback device, the increase in muscle tension after isometric contraction was observed. Each player performed 10 work sessions (2 sessions per week) with EMG-BF. Each session was divided into three phases: (a) three trials without receiving feedback, (b) between six and ten trials with feedback of electromyographic activity, (c) three trials without feedback. In each trial, isometric contractions of the vastus lateralis were performed. For all sessions, each isometric contraction lasted six seconds and the participants rested for two minutes between trials to recover their contraction capacity. The sampling rate was 2048 samples per second. | Each participant performed a total of 10 session during 5 weeks |