Goncalo V Mendonca1,2, Carolina Teodósio1, Miguel Mouro1, Sandro Freitas1,2, Pedro Mil-Homens1,2, Pedro Pezarat-Correia1,2, Carolina Vila-Chã3,4. 1. Neuromuscular Research Lab, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, Estrada da Costa, Cruz Quebrada, Dafundo, Portugal. 2. CIPER, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, Estrada da Costa, Cruz Quebrada, Dafundo, Portugal. 3. Polytechnic Institute of Guarda, Av. Dr. Francisco Sá Carneiro, Portugal. 4. Research Center in Sports Sciences, Health and Human Development (CIDESD), Vila-Real, Portugal.
Abstract
PURPOSE: The V wave is an electrophysiologic variant of the H reflex that is evoked with supramaximal stimulus intensity. In this study, we explored whether the between-day reliability of V-wave normalized amplitude varies as a function of the number of intrasession measurement trials. We also determined whether the reliability of the V wave improves after the exclusion of the initial testing trials. METHODS: Eighteen healthy, young participants (10 men and 8 women) were included in this study. Test-retest reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients and the standard error of the measurement (1.96*SEM). RESULTS: The intraclass correlation coefficient values of the V-wave normalized amplitude increased in a progressive fashion with the inclusion of more than two measurement trials (from 0.41 to 0.75). The 1.96*SEM scores also decreased from 12.47% to 7.60% after calculating the V-wave normalized amplitude from five versus two measurement trials. After excluding the first two trials from V-wave calculations, the intraclass correlation coefficient and the 1.96*SEM score attained values of 0.88 and 6.54%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that the test-retest reliability of the V-wave response increases in a progressive fashion with more than two intrasession measurement trials (up to five trials). It also shows that to ensure maximal reliability, the first two measurement trials should be discarded from V-wave computations.
PURPOSE: The V wave is an electrophysiologic variant of the H reflex that is evoked with supramaximal stimulus intensity. In this study, we explored whether the between-day reliability of V-wave normalized amplitude varies as a function of the number of intrasession measurement trials. We also determined whether the reliability of the V wave improves after the exclusion of the initial testing trials. METHODS: Eighteen healthy, young participants (10 men and 8 women) were included in this study. Test-retest reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients and the standard error of the measurement (1.96*SEM). RESULTS: The intraclass correlation coefficient values of the V-wave normalized amplitude increased in a progressive fashion with the inclusion of more than two measurement trials (from 0.41 to 0.75). The 1.96*SEM scores also decreased from 12.47% to 7.60% after calculating the V-wave normalized amplitude from five versus two measurement trials. After excluding the first two trials from V-wave calculations, the intraclass correlation coefficient and the 1.96*SEM score attained values of 0.88 and 6.54%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that the test-retest reliability of the V-wave response increases in a progressive fashion with more than two intrasession measurement trials (up to five trials). It also shows that to ensure maximal reliability, the first two measurement trials should be discarded from V-wave computations.
Authors: Goncalo V Mendonca; Carolina Vila-Chã; Carolina Teodósio; André D Goncalves; Sandro R Freitas; Pedro Mil-Homens; Pedro Pezarat-Correia Journal: Eur J Appl Physiol Date: 2021-05-12 Impact factor: 3.078