1996 Volume 33 Issue 6 Pages 423-428
The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of quadriceps setting exercise for the prevention of disuse atrophy of the medial vastus muscle by turns-amplitude analysis of surface electromyography. The subjects were 19 women with unilateral coxarthrosis deformans, 43 to 75 years of age, who were admitted for total hip replacement surgery. They were divided into 2 groups: group I (8 patients) who were not instructed to exercise their contralateral healthy leg, and group II (11 patients) who were instructed to exercise throughout the postoperative bed-rest period. Surface electromyography of the medial vastus muscle was examined in the healthy leg before and after the bed-rest period. Differences between groups I and II were evaluated with regard to changes after the bed-rest period. The interference pattern at quadriceps setting was evaluated by the product of turns per second and mean amplitude. It was found that the elecrtomyographic activity after bed-rest was significantly better in group II than in group I.
This study suggests that quadriceps setting exercise may be efficacious for preventing disuse atrophy in the medial vastus muscle.
