ArticleEuropean journal of applied physiology2026
Effects of electrical cutaneous stimulation of the foot sole on voluntary plantarflexion rate of torque development after fatigue in males.
Article in European journal of applied physiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeFast rate of torque development (RTD) is crucial for all movements, from balance to athletics. Aging and fatigue decrease RTD, increasing fall and injury risk. Thus, finding accessible methods to increase RTD is necessary. Given the neuromechanical coupling that exists between foot-sole skin and lower-limb motor neurons, cutaneous stimulation may impact RTD. This work investigated whether foot-sole cutaneous stimulation could mitigate the fatigue-induced declines in plantarflexion RTD.
methodsAdult males (n = 11, age = 28(7)) participated in three data collection sessions. Voluntary isometric plantarflexion RTD was measured during explosive plantarflexion contractions in a dynamometer. RTD was assessed at rest and post-fatigue, under three conditions: cutaneous electrical stimulation at the heel, metatarsal, or no stimulation. Fatigue was induced with a sustained maximal plantarflexion until torque dropped below 30% of maximum voluntary torque. RTD was calculated in cumulative 25ms epochs from contraction onset to 100ms. Post-fatigue, percent of rested RTD was compared between conditions.
resultsPost-fatigue RTD decreased across all conditions (p < 0.001) (mean = 31(12%)). No effect of stimulation was found for the change in RTD post-fatigue. (p = 0.174). However, when removing polarity of response by comparing absolute changes in RTD post-fatigue, a main effect of stimulation was found (p = 0.002) (mean difference from control: 14.6% with heel stimulation, and 17.5% with metatarsal stimulation).
conclusionsAlthough no clear location-dependent increase or decrease emerged, cutaneous stimulation did change fatigued RTD compared to control. Future work should focus on understanding the directional variability of responses across participants to isolate improved RTD as a mechanism to enhance performance and restore mobility.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42249934What OpenQuestion holds
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.