ArticleSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2020
Quantification of Neuromuscular Fatigue: What Do We Do Wrong and Why?
Article in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Role of Muscle Mass in Endurance Performance and Neuromuscular Fatigue: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Pooled it
- The use of non-linear tools to analyze the variability of force production as an index of fatigue: A systematic review.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Pooled it
- The effect of caffeine chewing gum on muscle performance and fatigue after severe-intensity exercise: isometric vs. dynamic assessments in trained cyclists.European journal of applied physiology · 2025Trial
- Comparison of neuromuscular fatigability amplitude and etiologies between fatigued and non-fatigued cancer patients.European journal of applied physiology · 2024Trial
- Effects of the Intensity, Duration, and Muscle Mass of Isometric Handgrip Exercise on Neuromuscular Fatigue and Post-Exercise Blood Pressure Responses: A Crossover Study.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Characterization of Muscle Fatigue Degree in Cyclical Movements Based on the High-Frequency Components of sEMG.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The effect of match-play on acute post-match neuromuscular fatigue following Australian Football League Women's (AFLW) competition.Biology of sport · 2025Article
- Assessment of muscle fatigability using isometric repetitive handgrip strength in frail older adults. A cross-sectional study.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
- Sex differences in lower limb neuromuscular function and asymmetry among 14-15 years old elite basketball players.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Assessment Methods of Sport-Induced Neuromuscular Fatigue: A Scoping Review.International journal of sports physical therapy · 2025Article
- Immediate but not prolonged effects of submaximal eccentric vs concentric fatiguing protocols on the etiology of hamstrings' motor performance fatigue.European journal of applied physiology · 2024Article
- Motor function and gait decline in individuals with cerebral palsy during adulthood: a narrative review of potential physiological determinants.European journal of applied physiology · 2024Review
- Lateral Shuffle-Induced Fatigue Effects on Ankle Proprioception and Countermovement Jump Performance.Journal of sports science & medicine · 2024Article
- Weekly Programming of Hamstring-Related Training Contents in European Professional Soccer.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Article
- Exacerbated impairments in neuromuscular function when two bouts of team sport match simulations are separated by 48 h.Experimental physiology · 2023Article
- Submaximal fatiguing eccentric contractions of knee flexors alter leg extrapersonal representation.Heliyon · 2023Article
- A method to quantify the reduction of back and hip muscle fatigue of lift-support exoskeletons.Wearable technologies · 2023Article
- Measuring objective fatigability and autonomic dysfunction in clinical populations: How and why?Frontiers in sports and active living · 2023Review
- On the reliability and validity of central fatigue determination.European journal of applied physiology · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Neuromuscular fatigue (NMF) is usually assessed non-invasively in healthy, athletic or clinical populations with the combination of voluntary and evoked contractions. Although it might appear relatively straightforward to magnetically or electrically stimulate at different levels (cortical/spinal/muscle) and to measure mechanical and electromyographic responses to quantify neuromuscular adjustments due to sustained/repeated muscle contractions, there are drawbacks that researchers and clinicians need to bear in mind. The aim of this opinion paper is to highlight the pitfalls inevitably faced when NMF is quantified. The first problem might arise from the definition of fatigue itself and the parameter(s) used to measure it; for instance, measuring power vs. isometric torque may lead to different conclusions. Another potential limitation is the delay between exercise termination and the evaluation of neuromuscular function; the possible underestimation of exercise-induced neural and contractile impairment and misinterpretation of fatigue etiology will be discussed, as well as solutions recently proposed to overcome this problem. Quantification of NMF can also be biased (or not feasible) because of the techniques themselves (e.g. results may depend on stimulation intensity for transcranial magnetic stimulation) or the way data are analyzed (e.g. M wave peak-to-peak vs first phase amplitude). When available, alternatives recently suggested in the literature to overcome these pitfalls are considered and recommendations about the best practices to assess NMF (e.g. paying attention to the delay between exercise and testing, adapting the method to the characteristics of the population to be tested and considering the limitations associated with the techniques) are proposed.
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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.