Objectives: The Short Foot exercise (SFex) is a useful strengthening exercise in activating the intrinsic foot muscles. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of Integrated Volitional control Electrical Stimulator (IVES) on learning the SFex. Methods: Sixteen healthy subjects participated in this study. Subjects were randomly allocated to control group or IVES group. Control group practiced the SF exercise for 5 minutes using the conventional method. IVES group used IVES in addition to the conventional method. The electromyographic (EMG) activity of abductor hallucis muscle (ABH), flexor hallucis longus muscle, tibialis anterior muscle and peroneus longus muscle during the SF exercise were measured before and after 5 minutes of practicing the SF exercise. Results: IVES group showed significantly increased EMG activity of ABH from the activity before practice. Moreover, the increase in the EMG activity of ABH was significantly larger in IVES group than in control group. Conclusions: These results suggested that IVES is one of the effective methods to facilitate learning of the SF exercise.

The purpose of this study was to consider the effect of systemic mild thermal stimulation (MTS) upon renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). Mice were randomly divided into three groups: 1. No MTS intervention and sham-operated group; 2. No intervention ischemia-reperfusion group; and 3. MTS intervention before ischemia-reperfusion group. Blood and kidney samples were collected 24 hours after ischemia-reperfusion surgery and analyzed using histological or molecular biological techniques. The serum creatinine level, which was significantly increased by renal IRI, was significantly decreased by MTS preconditioning (p＜0.05). There was a significant decrease in tubular injury (p＜0.05) and TUNEL positive cell number (p＜0.001) in kidney tissue. This was associated by a reduction in cleaved-caspase 3 (p＜0.05), and an increase in phospho-Hsp 27 (p＜0.05). This result suggests that apoptosis is suppressed by the increased amount of phospho-Hsp27 by MTS preconditioning.

We investigated the effects of middle frequency electrical stimulation on mitochondrial dysfunction and capillary regression in soleus muscle with monocrotaline-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in rats. Male Wistar rats were divided into three groups: control, monocrotaline-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension (MCT), and monocrotaline-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension plus electrical stimulation (MCT+ES) groups. After 2 weeks from the injection of monocrotaline, the rats in MCT+ES group were electrically stimulated on calf muscles once a day for 3 weeks. The rats in the MCT and MCT+ES groups exhibited an increase in lung weight, pulmonary arterial wall thickness, and right heart ventricular weight. In addition, the rats in the MCT group showed a reduction of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), citrate synthase (CS), and b-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (b-HAD) activities, capillary regression, and a decrease in PGC-1a protein expression in the soleus muscle. In contrast, middle frequency electrical stimulation attenuated these changes induced by PAH. In summary, middle frequency electrical stimulation could prevent PAH-induced skeletal muscular mitochondrial dysfunction and capillary regression via enhancing PGC-1a pathway without adverse effects on cardiopulmonary tissues.

Heart failure is characterized by limited exercise capacity due to not only myocardial dysfunction, but also skeletal muscle disorders such as muscle atrophy, abnormal metabolism, and capillary regression. Meanwhile the laser therapy has been reported to promote recovery from disuse skeletal muscle atrophy in association with angiogenesis. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of laser irradiation on capillary regression in skeletal muscle with heart failure induced by monocrotaline. Six-week-old male Wistar rats were divided in the control (Cont) group, the heart failure (HF) group, and the heart failure treated with laser irradiation (HF+L) group. HF resulted in a decrease in the capillary-to-fiber (C/F) ratio in skeletal muscle. However, laser irradiation attenuated the decrease in C/F ratio of skeletal muscle with heart failure. These results suggest that laser irradiation might prevent capillary regression in skeletal muscle with heart failure through promoting angiogenesis.

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is an effective intervention for prevention of muscle atrophy via muscle contraction. Despite the fact that pulsed magnetic stimulation (MS) is also a muscle contraction method, no studies have compared NMES and MS for the prevention of muscle atrophy. Therefore, this comparative study investigated the effects of NMES and MS on the prevention of muscle atrophy via the inhibition of muscle-specific ring finger protein-1 (MuRF-1) of the ubiquitin-proteasome protein degradation pathway in rat soleus muscle. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned randomly either to a control (CON), or to one of three groups: 2 weeks hindlimb unloading (HU), HU plus NMES on the left calf muscles (HU+NMES), or HU plus MS on the right calf muscles (HU+MS). Muscle mass, relative weight ratio, fiber cross-sectional area (FCSA), and MuRF-1 expression were examined in the soleus muscles of all rats. HU resulted in a decrease in the FCSA and an increase in the MuRF-1 expression. Meanwhile, NMES attenuated an increase in MuRF-1 expression and a decrease in the FCSA caused by unloading. Furthermore, MS significantly reduced the expression level of MuRF-1 protein, resulting in an increase of the FCSA. These results suggest that MS could prevent muscle atrophy via inhibiting MuRF-1, but NMES was insufficient to prevent atrophy.

The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate the effect of task-oriented training combined with electrical stimulation on hip abductor in patients with femoral neck fracture. The patients were randomly allocated to either electrical stimulation group (ES group) or control group. In both groups, patients performed task-oriented training to improve walking ability. ES group was combined with electrical stimulation to the gluteus medius on the operation side. The intervention was carried out in 10 sessions. Hip abductor strength, knee extensor strength, pain, Timed up & go test, 6 minute walk test (6MWT) and gait parameters were assessed before and after intervention. In the ES group, the hip abductor strength on the operative side significantly improved compared to the control group, and an improvement trend of 6MWT were observed. There were significant positive correlation between the change in the hip abductor strength on the operative side and gait velocity, both step lengths, stride length and 6MWT in the ES group. In the patients with femoral neck fracture, task-oriented training combined with electrical stimulation on hip abductor may improve muscle strength and walking ability.

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the immediate effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), combined with local heat or cold, on pain relief in patients with lumbar spine disease. [Methods] Thirty-seven patients with lumbar spine disease participated in this study. They were randomly assigned to the following three groups: TENS alone, TENS combined with local heat using a hot pack, and TENS combined with local cold using a cold pack. Leg pain was evaluated before and after the intervention using visual analogue scale (VAS). We also evaluated the pulse amplitude, reflecting the intensity values of TENS. [Results] The values of VAS were significantly decreased before and after the intervention in all groups. For TENS combined with local heat group, the delta VAS was significantly greater than that in TENS alone group. Additionally, the pulse amplitude was significantly greater for TENS combined with local heat, as compared to the other groups. [Conclusion] These results suggest that TENS combined with local heat may be effective for pain relief in patients with lumbar spine disease. The improvement could be affected by the increased intensity values of TENS with a heating effect.

The purpose of this study was comparison of the analgesic effect for pain in knee osteoarthritis (knee OA) during exercise with electrode placement in same areas of dermatome whether or not included the knee joint in the current-carrying path of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). 8 women who had unilateral knee pain of knee OA participated in this study. The electrodes were installed in the two areas of dermatome L3 and L4. One condition of electrode pair was placed upper and inner lower of patella, and another condition electrode of pair was placed lower and inner lower of patella. All subjects walked on flat ground and walked the stairs ascending/descending during being received the treatment with and without TENS. The degree of the knee pain after each exercise was measured using Visual analog scale (VAS). In both conditions, the results of VAS with TENS were significantly reduced compared to VAS without TENS (p＜0.01). By comparing both conditions, there was no significant difference in the change of VAS between with TENS and without TENS. These results suggest that analgesic effect for pain in knee OA during exercise with TENS is same without TENS being affected by electrode placement in same areas of dermatome whether or not included the knee joint in the current-carrying path.