ELECTROMYOGRAPHIC FATIGUE THRESHOLDS OF THE SUPERFICIAL MUSCLES OF THE QUADRICEPS FEMORIS

The purpose of this investigation was to compare the thresholds of neu romuscular fatigue determined simultaneously from the vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis (VM) and rectus femoris (RF) muscles using the electromyographic fatigue threshold (EMG(FT)) test. Eight adult volunt eers [mean (SD) age, 33 (10) years] served as subjects for this invest igation. The results of a one-way repeated measured ANOVA indicated th at there was a significant (P < 0.05) difference among the mean EMG(FT ) values for the VL [248(31)W], VM [223(43)W] and RF [220(30)W] muscle s. Tukey post-hoc comparisons indicated that the EMG(FT) for the RF wa s significantly (P < 0.05) lower than that of the VL. These findings s uggested that during cycle ergometry there is a dissociation in neurom uscular fatigue characteristics of the superficial muscles of the quad riceps femoris group.