Electromyostimulation from a Clinical Perspective

Abstract

A proliferation of the research analysis and clinical use of electromyostimulation has occurred in sports medicine in the last decade. This manuscript will review the important findings from a clinical perspective. Specifically, this article will address the advantages of electromyostimulation over voluntary exercise indicating its greater effectiveness in the early period of rehabilitation when reflex inhibition is dominant. Other advantages of electromyostimulation include its: usefulness in training one component of an agonist muscle group; effectiveness during joint immobilisation; and possible role in altering specific muscle fibre types and enzymes. In order to facilitate the use of electromyostimulation a number of factors require consideration including proper selection of stimulus parameters, joint position and electrode size, type and placement. In addition, the research findings relative to the use of electromyostimulation at different stages of recovery as well as the concern of whether electromyostimulation should be used with or without voluntary activation of the muscle are addressed. There have been few clinical studies of the use of electromyostimulation after peripheral joint injury. The studies that have been performed focus primarily on quadriceps femoris rehabilitation after knee injury and these were classified according to diagnostic groups and discussed in this article. Finally, directions for future research are described with the hope that the great scientific effort displayed to date will be continued.