Skeletal Muscle Fatigue

Aim: Quantitative measure of grip strength using hand grip dynamometer to analyse functional coherence of skeletal muscle and demonstrate fatigue over certain time intervals. Introduction: Fatigue can be defined as the inability of a muscle to maintain a particular strength of contraction or tension over time that is often characterized by the feeling of weakness or tiredness. Skeletal muscle is a striated voluntary muscle attached to the bones of the skeleton, the contraction of which exerts force to move the bones. Skeletal muscle can fatigue due to multiple reasons: 1) Prolonged muscle activity imposes strain on muscle; ATP utilization is accelerated to satisfy the energy requirements for excitation and contraction of muscle cell. When ATP production rates are unable to match ATP utilization rates accumulation of a range of metabolic by-products such as hydrogen ions, inorganic phosphate, ADP etc are produced which affects the efficiency of muscle (William, 2009). 2) The inability of a muscle to generate energy at a rate sufficient to meet its requirements means depletion of metabolic reserves (glycogen) thus affecting metabolic process. 3) Inadequate blood supply means insufficient oxygen and nutrient delivery to the muscles, thus reduction in removal of waste products so formed. When muscles do not get enough oxygen supply they revert to anaerobic respiration resulting in the build up of lactic acid causing intracellular acidosis. As these accumulate in our bodies, our ability to maintain the duration and intensity of exercise diminishes. 4) Recent research found that calcium channels that leak during exercise can be the cause of muscle fatigue. This occurs because when calcium releases in a muscle; it makes the muscle protein contract and fatigues the muscle (Enoka et.al, 1992).

The following simple and objective experiment using hand grip dynamometer was carried out to examine normal muscular activity and strength and changes in these as strain on muscle is repeated with variable time. Method: The investigation was carried out in pairs and the subjects included were in good health. The comprehensive detail of method is included in the handout. In addition a metronome was set up at one beat per second for uniform grips. As the experiment proceeded, colour changes and state of painfulness during different activities were noted.

Results: Firstly, maximum grip strength of each hand was taken to determine the handedness of subject. Maximum grip strength (In kilograms) Hand Right Left 1(Kg) 24.5 24.0 2(Kg) 24.0 23.5 3(Kg) 23.5 22.5 4(Kg) 22.5 22.5 5(Kg) 23.5 21 6(Kg) 22.5 21.5 Average(Kg) 23.4 22.5

Right hand was used throughout the experiment since the average maximum grip strength is greater with right hand. This is important so that maximal grip strength is achieved each time to give better set of results. 1) Following results were obtained during normal fatigue and recovery period. Exercise(Kg) 24.0 22.5 18.0 20.0 19.0 17.0 15.5 14.0 12.5 12.0 Recovery(Kg) 14.0 16.5 16.0 16.5 17.0 18.0 19.5 22.5 23.5 23.5 With the progression of exercise, gradual decrease in the maximum strength is noticeable. The blood vessels in upper extremity of the arm were achieving blue-purple colour indicating that the blood so flowing is deoxygenated. Swift recovery was observed. This was expected because the muscle exercise wasnt very strenuous to develop an oxygen debt.

2) Following results were obtained for fatigue during tissue ischemia. Exercise(Kg) 18.0 16.0 13.5 12.5 12.0 08.5 07.0 07.5 Recovery(Kg) 13.5 13.0 14.0 13.5 15.0 16.0 16.5 15.5 17.0 18.5 During ischemic condition i.e. comparative shortage of blood supply (thus a shortage of oxygen and nutrients) achieved by inflating a handcuff to 130mmHg, fatiguing takes place at a very speedy rate dropping sharply. The recovery even after deflating the cuff is very slow. The arm achieved red coloration and exercise was painful.

3) Following results were achieved at recovery during tissue ischemia. Exercise(Kg) 22.0 19.5 16.0 17.0 17.5 11.0 9.5 Recovery(Kg) 19.0 20.5 18.5 19.5 20.0 21.0 20.5 20.5 21.5 21.0 22.5 Fatiguing during this period takes place very fast taking into account the fact that a lot of exercise was already done beforehand. Recovery is the slowest and most painful and gradual discoloration is observed.

Also the following class data comprising of 17 subjects were achieved: Table showing initial grip strength (Kg) in intervals varying with gender. Gender Male Female 10-20(Kg) 21-30(Kg) 8 31-40(Kg) 1 4 41-50(Kg) 4 51-60(Kg)

Female record lower hand grip strength values than male. This data is relevant to suggest factors influencing hand grip. Other factors include nutritional status (Charles et.al, 2006), fitness, medication, metabolic disorders, BMI, environmental conditions, muscle mass etc, primarily the motivation to deliver maximum strength each time (Bohannon, 2006). Discussion: The results were represented in scattered graph and not as a line of best fit for this particular experiment because every data is essential in analysing patterns whereas line of best fit hides information. 1) During normal course of fatigue and recovery in first part of the exercise i.e. anaerobic respiration, ATP and creatine phosphate (CP) are used up which

signals the metabolism of glycogen to produce energy for the body by process of glycolysis. During this process glycogen is broken down to produce more CP the breakdown of which releases energy to catalyze the ATP production reaction. Lactic acid is also produced during glycolysis (William, 2009). As the exercise is continued, lactic acid dissociates into lactate and H+ ions. This increase in cellular H+ ion causes pH to decrease, making the environment more acidic. This condition incites muscle fibres calcium binding capacity to decrease causing fatigue and hence the decrease in grip strength (Windmaier et.al, 2004). The bluish-purple coloration of the arm denotes the flow of deoxygenated blood in effort to sweep away waste products. The recovery is swift, accumulation of lactic acid is quickly overcome with oxygen delivery thus removing waste products and supplying nutrients. 2) During ischemic condition in second part of the exercise, fatiguing is the fastest. Ischemia is a condition of lack of oxygen due to either blockage in blood flow or low oxygen saturation in the blood making hand grip usage painful. Fatiguing in this case is caused due to the cut off of blood supply which results in the build up of carbondioxide and other waste products including lactic acid (William, 2009). There is a reduction in nutrient supply disabling muscle fibre to retain its performance capacity. In response to stimulus to bring out more blood, vasodilation of capillaries in tissues occurs. H+ and CO2 act as paracrine causing this vasodilation (Windmaier et.al, 2004). During recovery, as the cuff was deflated, the increase blood flow after temporary interruption caused reactive hyperaemia giving a red coloration to the arm. Recovery was slow due to accumulation of waste by products that requires time to be removed, slow restoration of calcium balance and changes in neuromuscular transmissions (Enoka et.al, 1992) 3) During recovery period after tissue ischemia, fatiguing was fast due to the fact that lots of hand grip exercise of muscle fibres was carried out already and there was less time to recover from that although the cuff was deflated. Recovery was the slowest in this experiment because of the build up of oxygen debt that needs to be overcome to restore the normal mechanical function of muscle fibres. The low pH balance of intracellular environment also needs to be subjugated which was decreased due to the accumulation of lactic acid (Kent, 2006). Recovery in this phase was painful because the subsequent build up of waste products act as messenger stimulating nociceptor (pain receptors) to induce pain. Calcium-sensitive K+ channels open when intracellular Ca2+ concentrations increase in extracellular environment (Enoka et.al, 1992).The build up of K+ ion causes depolarisation of membrane increasing reception of pain.

Hand grip dynamometer can also be used in clinical and wider applications: 1) Diagnosis of diseases by monitoring repeated exercises. E.g. arthritis, stroke, atherosclerosis etc by accessing the muscle function. (Bohannon, 2006) 2) Decrease in hand grip strength is predictive of disability in older men. (Charles et.al, 2006) 3) Uses in rehabilitation centres to restore fitness. 4) It also forms a part of training regime for athletes. 5) Energy Drink Company use this commercially to demonstrate their products claiming to reduce recovery rate.

References: Bohannon, RW (2006) Test-retest Reliability of the MicroFET 4 Hand Grip Dynamometer. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice. 22:219-221 Charles,LE; Burchfiel,CM; Fekedulegn,D; Kashon,ML; Ross,GW; Sanderson,WT; Petrovitch,H (2006) Occupational and Other Risk Factors for Hand Grip Strength:The Honolulu Asian Aging Study. Occup Environ Med 63:820-827 Enoka RM; Stuart DG (1992) Neurobiology of muscle fatigue. J. Appl. Physiol. 72 (5): 163148. Kent,M (2006) Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science and Medicine. 3rd Edition. United Kingdom:Oxford University Press Williams,C; Ratel,S (2009) Human Muscle Fatigue. 1st Edition. United Kingdom:Routledge Publishing Windmaier,PW; Raff,H; Strang,TS (2004) Vander,Sherman and Lucianos Human Physiology, the mechanisms of body functions. 9th Edition. United Kingdom:Mcgraw Hill Education