What’s This Research About?
The primary goal of this research was to determine if isotonic or isometric exercise was effective at inducing an analgesic effect within a physical therapy protocol. The secondary goal was determining changes to cortical motor function in the CNS directly following an acute bout of exercise.
Tendinopathy can be a difficult and painful condition to manage. The most frequently prescribed form of exercise to treat tendinopathy is eccentric exercise. Unfortunately, eccentric exercise can increase pain in some individuals.
An exercise-induced, pain-relieving therapeutic intervention may be ideal because it is noninvasive, can increase adherence, and allow pain to be managed directly before or after an activity.
TITLE: Isometric exercise induces analgesia and reduces inhibition in patellar tendinopathy
PUBLICATION: British Journal of Sports Medicine
DATE: September 2015
AUTHORS : Ebonie Rio, Dawson Kidgell, Craig Purdam, G Lorimer Moseley, Alan J Pearce, Jill Cook
Analgesia: Insensitivity to pain.
Central nervous system (CNS): Brain and spinal cord. Coordinates activity of the entire nervous system.
Eccentric exercise: Strengthening the muscle as it lengthens.
Isometric exercise: Contraction performed with the joint angle and muscle angle fixed. A static plank is an example of an isometric exercise.
Isotonic exercise: Heavy, slow, concentric and eccentric resistance training performed at a fixed speed.
Maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC): A standardized method used to measure muscle strength where the subject is asked to isometrically contract a muscle.
Tendinopathy: Tendon pain and dysfunction.
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