Muscle Nerve 2001 Sep;24(9):1173-80
de Ruiter CJ, Jongen PJ, van Der
Woude LH, de Haan A
The purpose of the study was to investigate
differences in contractile speed, force, and fatigability of the adductor
pollicis muscle between 12 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and 8
sedentary control subjects matched for age and gender.
There were no differences between
the patients with MS and control subjects with respect to the percentage
of maximal muscle force that could be recruited during voluntary effort
(95.5 +/- 3.9% and 98.2 +/- 2.0%, respectively, P = 0.10), the stimulation
frequency/force and force/velocity relationships, the rates of force development
and relaxation, fatigue resistance, and the recovery rate of adductor pollicis
muscle.
However, previous results from the
same group of MS patients showed that quadriceps femoris muscle force and
resistance to fatigue were reduced.
Therefore, our data support the clinical
experience that, in patients with MS, lower limb muscle function is more
or earlier affected than upper limb muscle function.
Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons,
Inc.
PMID: 11494270, UI: 21385591
Institute for Fundamental and Clinical
Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, Vrije University,
van der Boechorststraat 9, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands.