Effects of muscle action type on corticospinal excitability and triceps surae muscle-tendon mechanics

This study investigated if the specific motor control strategy reported for eccentric muscle actions is dependent of muscle mechanical behavior. Motor-evoked potentials (MEP), Hoffman reflex (H-reflex), fascicle length (FL), pennation angle (PA) and fascicle velocity (FV) of soleus (SOL) muscle were compared between isometric and two eccentric conditions. Ten volunteers performed maximal plantarflexion trials in isometric, slow eccentric (25o/s) and fast eccentric (100o/s) conditions, each on a different randomized testing session. Normalized H-reflex (H/M) was depressed in both eccentric conditions as compared to isometric (P