Electrical Stimulation to the Infraspinatus on Hypertrophy and Strength of the Shoulder

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of six weeks of electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) on the strength and muscle mass of the infraspinatus muscle. Twenty non-athletes (age: 24±3.4 years, height: 171.5±5.6 cm, mass: 65.2±8.1 kg) were randomly classified into two groups, an electrical muscle stimulation group (EMS group) and a control group (CON group). The EMS group completed a total of 18 20– min EMS sessions, three times per week over a period of six weeks, while the CON group received no intervention. The muscle thicknesses of both the infraspinatus and the deltoid muscles, the cross-sectional area (CSA) of the whole infraspinatus muscle, and the isometric and isokinetic peak torques of shoulder external rotations were measured before and after intervention. It was found that the muscle thickness of the superior infraspinatus (Pre 0.92±0.19 cm², Post 0.99±0.16 cm², p=0.02) and the CSA (Pre 10.99±1.32 cm², Post 11.99±1.02 cm², p=0.03) significantly increased in the EMS group. This study demonstrated that EMS of the infraspinatus muscle over a period of six weeks resulted in hypertrophy of the infraspinatus muscle.

Key words

electrical muscle stimulation - training - infraspinatus - hypertrophy - shoulder - strength

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