Soft tissue vibration dynamics after an unexpected impact

It has been proposed that during walking and running the body has strategies to minimize the soft tissue vibrations. The concept of muscle tuning suggests that muscle activity changes in response to the input signal to modify the frequency and damping of such vibrations. Although it has been demonstrated for continuous vibrations and single impacts, the adaptations dynamics are still unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine (1) if the neuromuscular adaptation to repeated single impacts is immediate, (2) what are the adaptation mechanisms, and (3) if there are functional groups defined by different adaptation strategies. Twenty‐one subjects performed two sets of knee curl on a dynamometer with a custom‐made appliance that supported the foot and heel. The first set was for familiarization with a 90° range of movement and 400°/sec velocity. The second set had 15 repetitions with a 55° range and the same angular velocity. The subjects were not notified of the change; therefore the first impact was unexpected. A pair of electrodes and a three‐dimensional accelerometer were placed on the gastrocnemius medialis. Damping coefficient, natural frequency, and EMG characteristics were measured. All the participants adapted to the vibrations and showed changes in the damping coefficient and or the natural frequency. Apart from the immediate adaptation, a subgroup showed a progressive adaptation after the first immediate change. Three functional groups were identified using support vector machine, correlations with anthropometric values suggest that muscle mass could affect the adaptation strategy used. The concept of muscle tuning suggests that muscle activity changes in response to the input signal to modify the frequency and damping of such vibrations. This was the first study to use a controlled dynamic voluntary movement to explore soft tissue vibration dynamics after repeated single impacts. We found that the reactions are a combination of the strategies and that can be immediate but can also occur more gradually over repeated exposure.