G5 Doctoral dissertation (article)
Adaptation of corticospinal excitability after short- and long-term motor training (2024)
Kortikospinaalisen herätteen mukautuminen lyhyt- ja pitkäaikaisen motorisen harjoittelun jälkeen

Hu, N. (2024). Adaptation of corticospinal excitability after short- and long-term motor training [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Jyväskylä. JYU dissertations, 752. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-9941-4

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Hu, Nijia

eISBN: 978-951-39-9941-4

Journal or series: JYU dissertations

eISSN: 2489-9003

Publication year: 2024

Number in series: 752

Number of pages in the book: 1 verkkoaineisto (98 sivua, 42 sivua useina numerointijaksoina, 3 numeroimatonta sivua)

Publisher: University of Jyväskylä

Publication country: Finland

Publication language: English

Persistent website address: https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-9941-4

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Abstract

The present doctoral thesis aimed to investigate neural adaptation at the supraspinal and spinal level during different proprioception processing-related tasks (translational and rotational ankle perturbation) after short-term motor training, long-term skill and long-term endurance training. Using established translational perturbation protocols, 14 subjects participated in measurements to determine the accuracy and reliability of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and Hoffmann reflex (H-reflex) in Experiment I. In Experiment II, TMS and H-reflex measurements were used before and after one perturbation training session to examine corticospinal excitability and adaptation during translational perturbation tasks in 14 young adult subjects. To explore neural adaptation from long-term specific motor skill acquisition training, Experiment III investigated neural adaptation mechanisms of 10 skill- and 10 endurance- trained athletes and corticospinal excitability was measured by TMS during ankle rotational perturbation. The results demonstrated good to excellent test-retest reliability in TMS and H-reflex during translational perturbation tasks. Balance control ability for the translational perturbation task was significantly improved after one training session. Potentially decreasing corticospinal excitability, but increasing spinal excitability, suggests that repeated skill training improves motor performance and neural adaptation may transfer from cortical control to more subcortical involvement. After long-term training, skill-trained athletes demonstrated corticospinal excitability plays an important role in voluntary movement and suggests cortical adaptation to a top-down strategy in response to ankle rotational perturbation. For endurance-trained athletes, on the other hand, maintaining intracortical inhibition relates to higher neural modulation at the spinal level in response to ankle rotational perturbation. Therefore, the results of this thesis support that both spinal and supraspinal mechanisms adapt after training. Indeed, the acquisition of motor performance through training resulted in a discernible decrease in cortical influence and an augmentation of spinal influence. These changes align with the strategies employed by endurance trained athletes.

Keywords: motor functions; control; motor skills (general); learning; transcranial magnetic stimulation; reflexes; athletes; training; ankles; joints (musculoskeletal system); doctoral dissertations

Free keywords: motor control; motor skill learning; corticospinal excitability; ranscranial magnetic stimulation; H-reflex; athletic training; ankle perturbation

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes