Abstract

Muscular dystrophy is a genetically linked myopathy with no cure available. The lack of a cure makes early detection and treatment of muscular dystrophy imperative. When reviewing protocols examining muscular fatigue at submaximal isometric contractions, proper warm-up appeared to be absent and could have caused skewed results and conclusions. This study examines the effects of implementing a warm-up protocol before fatiguing trials. In this study, 10 adult subjects conducted fatiguing protocols with the right rectus at submaximal isometric contractions. The warm-up period included a light walk along with contractions at 20% and 33% of maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) levels. Active recovery measures were also taken into consideration as subjects conducted the fatiguing protocol to relieve the onset effects of lactic acidosis. The contraction durations with and without warmup were found to be significantly different (p=0.001, t-test). Subjects without warmup had a 73.30 second contraction duration difference between their first and second fatiguing contraction, whereas subjects with warmup had a difference of 5.94 seconds. Future studies may investigate the effects of the warm-up on the electromechanical efficiency (EME) and mechanomyography (MMG) frequency relationship.

Thesis Completion

2022

Semester

Spring

Thesis Chair/Advisor

Mansy, Hansen

Degree

Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

College

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Degree Program

Mechanical Engineering

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Release Date

5-1-2022

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