Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25540707›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of sports physical therapy2014

Influence of patterned electrical neuromuscular stimulation on quadriceps activation in individuals with knee joint injury.

Neal R Glaviano, William T Langston, Joseph M Hart, Susan Saliba

Registry-linked trialOpen access · greenAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of sports physical therapy, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03884738 (Effects Of Different Strengthening Methods On Hamstring Muscle Group's Passive Mechanical Properties in Healthy Individuals), which is not on this map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 29% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT03884738 nacompletednot on this mapstarted 2019, after this paper: background citation

Effects Of Different Strengthening Methods On Hamstring Muscle Group's Passive Mechanical Properties in Healthy Individuals

TypeinterventionalSponsorHacettepe UniversityRan2019 to 2019Enrolled42ConditionsSports Physical TherapyArmsConcentric Exercise, Nordic Eccentric exercise, Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Article
  4. The incidence of arthrogenic muscle inhibition in acute knee injuries: a prospective cohort study in a tertiary acute knee unit.Asia-Pacific journal of sports medicine, arthroscopy, rehabilitation and technology · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Neal R GlavianoExercise and Sport Injury Laboratory, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA USA.
William T LangstonExercise and Sport Injury Laboratory, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA USA.
Joseph M HartExercise and Sport Injury Laboratory, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA USA.
Susan SalibaExercise and Sport Injury Laboratory, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA USA.
University of Virginia · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundNeuromuscular Electrical Stimulation is a common intervention to address muscle weakness, however presents with many limitations such as fatigue, muscle damage, and patient discomfort that may influence its effectiveness. One novel form of electrical stimulation purported to improve neuromuscular re-education is Patterned Electrical Neuromuscular Stimulation (PENS), which is proposed to mimic muscle-firing patterns of healthy individuals. PENS provides patterned stimulating to the agonist muscle, antagonist muscle and then agonist muscle again in an effort to replicate firing patterns. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a single PENS treatment on knee extension torque and quadriceps activation in individuals with quadriceps inhibition.

methods18 subjects (10 males and 8 females: 24.2±3.4 years, 175.3±11.8cm, 81.8±12.4kg) with a history of knee injury/pain participated in this double-blinded randomized controlled laboratory trial. Participants demonstrated quadriceps inhibition with a central activation ratio of ≤90%. Maximal voluntary isometric contraction of the quadriceps and central activation ratio were measured before and after treatment. The treatment intervention was a 15-minute patterned electrical stimulation applied to the quadriceps and hamstring muscles with a strong motor contraction or a sham group, who received an identical set up as the PENS group, but received a 1mA subsensory stimulation. A 2×2 (group × time) ANCOVA was used to determine differences in maximal voluntary isometric contraction and central activation ratio between groups. The maximal voluntary isometric contraction was selected as a covariate due to baseline differences.

resultsThere were no differences in change scores between pre- and post-intervention for maximal voluntary isometric contraction: (PENS: 0.09±0.32Nm/kg and Sham 0.15±0.18Nm/kg, p=0.713), or central activation ratio:(PENS: -1.22±6.06 and Sham: 1.48±3.7, p=0.270).

conclusionsA single Patterned Electrical Neuromuscular Stimulation treatment did not alter quadriceps central activation ratio or maximal voluntary isometric contraction. Unlike other types of muscle stimulation, PENS did not result in a reduction of quadriceps torque. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III.

Indexed as

Electrical stimulationmuscle inhibitionquadriceps torque

Identifiers

PMID25540707
PMCPMC4275196
OpenAlexW1447588140

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.