A new study from Umeå University has discovered that muscles sense mechanical pressure, offering potential breakthroughs in treating neuromuscular conditions and optimizing physical therapy.
In an exciting breakthrough, researchers at Umeå University in Sweden have discovered that the human body’s muscles possess the ability to sense mechanical pressure.
This finding, published in the journal Cell Reports, could revolutionize how we approach treatments for neuromuscular conditions, athletic training and physical therapy.
Crucial Findings for Movement Neuroscience
The study, led by Michael Dimitriou, an associate professor in the Department of Medical and Translational Biology at Umeå University, focused on muscle spindles.
These sensory receptors play a vital role in proprioception, often referred to as the “hidden sixth sense” that helps the nervous system understand the mechanical state of the body.
“The results provide an important piece of the puzzle in understanding what information our nervous system receives from muscles,” Dimitriou said in a news release.
In the research, different levels of pressure were applied to the forearm muscles of awake volunteers.
The researchers recorded signals from nerve fibers in muscle spindles, discovering that these receptors reacted robustly even when the muscles were still. Significantly, the muscle spindles’ response was enhanced when the hand was in motion and the muscle was stretched.
Implications for Health and Fitness
This revelation challenges the long-held belief that muscle spindles solely respond to stretching.
The findings have practical applications ranging from alleviating muscle cramps to optimizing muscle recovery post-injury. Improved understanding of how muscle spindles detect pressure can lead to innovations in managing muscle stiffness.
Another surprising discovery was that the rapid removal of pressure from muscles dramatically decreased spindle activity. This led researchers to develop the “triple-eight” technique for quickly relieving muscle stiffness.
“If you don’t know why an effect happens, it is hard to optimize this effect. In our study, we show that applying local pressure for just eight seconds and then suddenly removing it leads to a strong inhibition of spindle activity, especially if this is done twice in a row,” Dimitriou added.