Abstract
Background and objective: The history of electrical stimulation as a method to affect muscle fibers has its roots in the Greek medical literature. Application of electrical stimulation can change muscle fibers from type II to type I. As a result, the muscle fibers transform into a more fatigue resistance type. This feature probably presents a new method in sport to enhance endurance records in the athletes. The main goal of this research is to evaluate the effect of stimulation usage on athletes΄ endurance performance.
Materials and Methods: This study is a clinical trial, interventional study, that was performed on two cyclist groups, each one including 10 male athletes. The range of their age was between 17 and 20 years old. First group received electrical stimulation in conjunction to their routine exercises and the second group; just routine exercises. Record measurement was performed in three stages: before application of stimulations or exercises, after stopping stimulations and 8 weeks after that, naming them 0, 1 and 2 phases respectively. Variable factors in this study included distance, speed, energy consumption index and finally fatigue scale. Data analysis was performed by the help independent t-test and SPSS program.
Results: Both groups had decrease in speed and distance records at stages (1), (2) in comparison with stage (0). However, these findings were less prominent in group 1. similarly fatigue level was less prominent in group 1. These differences were significant between two groups, statistically.
Energy consumption showed an increase between stage (0-1) and stage (1-2). This increase was observed more dramatically for group 2. However, statistically, this difference was not significant.
Conclusion: Results of this research showed that use of electrical stimulation prevents decrease in endurance until 8 weeks after stopping stimulation. Also it showed decrease in energy consumption and fatigue feeling. However this method has no side effects. Therefore, it may be used as a practical adjacent technology in athletes pre-events preparation.