Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: A Case Study

Using electrodes on the bicep to record the motor unit recruitment during all four conditions: control, stretching, cardio, and aerobic stretching. As shown in figure 5, the control group and the stretching are similar in the amount of EMG amplitude (mV). However, when comparing stretching with both cardio and aerobic stretching there is an increase as the intensity of the warm-up. Moreover, aerobic stretching has the highest EMG amplitude, which shows that there is motor unit cycling. Motor cycling provides a more efficient performance on the bicep because more of the muscle is being used (Widmaier, et al.,

Encyclopedia of Nursing & Allied Health. Bioelectricity: Transmission of nerve impulses to muscle. Retrieved on 26 June 2011 from http://www.enotes.com/nursing-encyclopedia/bioelectricity

Next with a stimulation duration of 50us, the stimulus amplitude should be set to the maximal tolerable stimulus intensity. With stimulus frequency of 2Hz, observe and record the leg movement, increase it by 5Hz but should not exceed 50Hz. With the electrodes connected to the analogy output channel and ground of the DAQ board. With the corresponding LabVIEW program, the frequency and amplitude (voltage) of the stimulation supplied to the leg can be controlled. With this the “sweet spot” of the lowest amplitude and best frequency to cause evoked movement can be found and recorded. Now the stimulation frequency should be set to 10Hz and the duration of stimulation pulse to 5ms or less. The range if leg movement changes can be observed as amplitude changes. Electrical stimulation in increments of 0.01V should be delivered and the minimal voltage required to generate muscle twitch should be recorded. The pulse duration should then be increased by durations of 10ms and the minimum voltage should be recorded this should be repeated for a variety of pulse

5). Some unique resources we have at Emerald Coast Behavioral are specialized inpatient programs that are tailored to treat patients with PTSD, chemical dependency and even adolescents. We also use transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, which is an advanced therapy option for the treatment of depression. Soon, electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, will be available at our facility. When others look at our facility, they see safe, competent and experienced staff that provide care with a nurturing attitude.

Cortical stimulation therapy. This stimulates your brain with electrical currents to make it work better.

The EMG signal that is observed through the placement of electrodes on the skin is closely coupled with the generation of muscle force. In normal conditions, the force-EMG relationship is either linear or the increase in EMG at low force levels is less than proportional (Semmler 2014). However, a different force-EMG relationship was observed following eccentric exercise,

A simple spinal reflex is a reflex—involuntary, graded, patterned response to a stimulus—that is produced via a single synapse between sensory axons and motor neurons and confined to the spinal cord. In this experiment, two simple spinal reflexes—the myotactic reflex and the H-reflex—were stimulated. We compared a) the latency period—the amount of time between a stimulus and the effector response— and the amplitude—magnitude of an electrical signal—of each reflex; then, b) the effect of the Jendrassik Maneuver (JM) upon the latency period and amplitude of each respective reflex. For the myotactic response, a mechanical stimulus, a sharp strike of the patellar tendon, was utilized to elicit a signal in stretch receptors; however, to trigger the H-reflex, an electrical impulse was applied. These reflexes originate from an action potential produced by a sensory neuron when a stimulus is applied. Sensory neurons transmit the action potentials to an integrating center—the spinal cord—where a response is determined. Then, this response is taken back to the effector organ via motor neurons. The reflex occurs while the brain is becoming aware of the stimulus. Furthermore, the myotactic reflex is

TMS uses a device that creates a magnetic field around certain targeted parts of the patient's brain. Since the brain’s activity is caused by neurons using electric charges to communicate with each other, TMS creates a magnetic field around a section of the brain which causes the neurons to interact

Current research suggests that trigger points are caused by a dysfunction in the nerves that signal the muscles to contract (Simons, Travell, & Simons 1999). When the neural activity becomes unsynchronized, it can cause muscles to contract without relaxing (Simons et al. 1999; Ge, Fernandez-de-las-Penas, & Yue 2011). This constant contraction results in a trigger point, which restricts blood flow to the taut muscle area and causes both localized and referred pain (Ge et al. 2011). Researchers theorize that DN interferes with the malfunctioning nerve signals and resets them to their normal function (Simons et al. 1999; Giamberardino, Affaitati, Fabrizio, & Costantini 2011).

D. Nerve impulses from motor neuromuscular junctions are unable to fully stimulate the affected muscle because the antibodies target the acetylcholine receptors at the neuromuscular junction. As a result, the muscles are not told to fire properly.

As the voltage was increased from threshold to maximum voltage, there was a greater force in the muscle contraction. Once the maximum voltage (2500 mv) was reached, even if there was an increase in voltage, the force of the muscle contraction remained the same.

The term threshold as it applies to an action potential is the voltage at which you first observe an action potential.

Neuroplasticity is defined as “the ability of the nervous system to respond to intrinsic and extrinsic stimuli by reorganizing its structure, function and connections.”2 These changes occur continuously throughout our lifetimes in response to these stimuli.3 Motor learning is the acquisition or improvement of a motor skill through repetition and “Practice is the single most important factor that is critical to motor skill acquisition.” 4 Neuroplasticity explains the method by which the brain encodes the new experiences or stimuli, learns and remembers the skills, and develops new behaviors.3 As our case study involves a patient with a chronic musculoskeletal disorder (CMSD), it is important to note that the neurobiological basis of neuroplasticity and potential for motor learning is the same for a person with CMSD as it is for the person with brain damage such

The action potential threshold in a neuron is the point of sudden change at which the neuron fires, transmitting information to another neuron. The idea of action potential threshold to explain how neurons send information to each other. A neuron transmits information through electric impulses sent through its axon. When a neuron is inactive, more positively charged ions lie outside the axon . Upon stimulation, the axon admits more sodium ions, rendering the neuron more positively charged. When the neuron reaches a certain point of depolarization known as the action potential threshold, it will fire; if it does not reach that point, it will not fire. The action potential of a neuron is always the same.

The compound action potential adds up all the action potentials that each individual neuron experiences in the sciatic nerve. Different stimulus amplitudes cause different neurons to fire an action potential; this is due to the fact that each neuron has a different threshold potential, or the minimum voltage the neuron needs to fire an action potential. The individual neuron action potential is an ‘all-or-nothing’ event, but the CAP, as a summation of different individual neurons, is not. The CAP amplitude will increase with larger stimulus potentials because more neurons with higher individual thresholds will be recruited. For this frog sciatic nerve, there are three fiber types, A, B, and C. A fibers are further divided, in the order of decreasing diameter, into α, β, γ, and δ fibers. There is an inverse relationship between the diameter of the nerve fiber and the threshold potential: the larger the diameter, the lower the threshold. Thus, as the largest fibers, the Aα neurons will be the first to be stimulated at a low stimulus potential, and the Aδ neuron fibers will be the last to be recruited. Because the sciatic nerve is mostly composed of A fibers, the recruitment of A-subtype nerve fibers are more readily distinguishable from the data. The minimum potential required to stimulate the Aα fibers was between 75 mV and 80 mV. Once the stimulus potential reached 90 mV, Aβ neurons were recruited and contributed to the increase in amplitude of the CAP. At a stimulus