Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Rehabilitation and Therapy Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Rehabilitation and Therapy

A Comparison Of Four Electrical Stimulation Types On Staphylococcus Aureus Growth In Vitro, Harold L. Merriman, Chris A. Hegyi, Cheryl R. Albright-Overton, John Carlos Jr., Robert W. Putnam, Janet A. Mulcare Mar 2004

A Comparison Of Four Electrical Stimulation Types On Staphylococcus Aureus Growth In Vitro, Harold L. Merriman, Chris A. Hegyi, Cheryl R. Albright-Overton, John Carlos Jr., Robert W. Putnam, Janet A. Mulcare

Faculty Publications

We evaluated the efficacy of common electrical stimulation (ES) types on bacterial growth in vitro using clinically relevant conditions. Four types of ES-continuous micro-amperage direct current (μADC), high-voltage pulsed current (HVPC), low-voltage monophasic milliamperage pulsed current (LVMmAPC), and low-voltage biphasic milliamperage pulsed current (LVBmAPC)-were each applied to a separate set of culture plates containing Staphylococcus aureus for 1 h at 37°C on 3 consecutive days. After ES treatment, the zone of inhibition surrounding each electrode was measured. Zone of inhibition measurements showed a significant inhibitory effect for continuous μADC and HVPC (p < 0.05), but not for LVM-mAPC and LVBmAPC. Differences in bacterial growth inhibition were not found for polarity and time. These data suggest that for infected wounds, HVPC and continuous μADC treatments may have an initial bacterial inhibitory effect, which does not significantly change with subsequent treatments.


Variable-Frequency-Train Stimulation Of Skeletal Muscle After Spinal Cord Injury, C. Scott Bickel, Jill Slade, Leslie R. Vanhiel, Gordon L. Warren, Gary A. Dudley Jan 2004

Variable-Frequency-Train Stimulation Of Skeletal Muscle After Spinal Cord Injury, C. Scott Bickel, Jill Slade, Leslie R. Vanhiel, Gordon L. Warren, Gary A. Dudley

Physical Therapy Faculty Publications

Skeletal muscle, after spinal cord injury (SCI), becomes highly susceptible to fatigue. Variable-frequency trains (VFTs) enhance force in fatigued human skeletal muscle of able-bodied (AB) individuals. VFTs do this by taking advantage of the "catch-like" property of skeletal muscle. However, mechanisms responsible for fatigue in AB and SCI subjects may not be the same, and the efficacy of VFT stimulation after SCI is unknown. Accordingly, we tested the hypothesis that VFT stimulation would augment torque-time integral in SCI subjects. The quadriceps femoris muscle was stimulated with constant frequency trains (CFTs) (six 200 s square wave pulses separated by 70 ms) …