Examination of the reproducibility of grip force and muscle oxygenation kinetics on maximal repeated rhythmic grip exertion

The contribution of physiological mechanisms involving force-exertion value during maximal repeated rhythmic muscle contraction work changes over time. The purpose of this study was to examine the reproducibility of grip force and muscle oxygenation kinetics with a decrease of the gripping force during maximal repeated rhythmic grip (RRG). Subjects were 10 males, aged 20-26 years (height 173.9+/-7.3 cm, body weight 71.5+/-11.2 kg). Each subject performed maximal repeated rhythmic grip as a target value with a target frequency of 30 grips.min(-1) for 6 min. The trial-to-trial reproducibility of Oxygenated haemoglobin (Oxy-Hb), Deoxygenated haemoglobin (Deoxy-Hb), Total haemoglobin (Total Hb) and grip force during the RRG (6 min) was very high (r(xy)=0.919-0.966) and the decreasing pattern of the force-time curve was consistent. The cross correlation coefficients of the grip force (r(xy)=0.985) and muscle oxygenation kinetics (Total Hb: 0.996, Oxy-Hb: 0.992, Deoxy-Hb: 0.995) in the pre-inflection phase (marked force decreasing phase) were very high, while these coefficients in the post-inflection phase (almost steady state phase) were low as compared with those in the pre-inflection phase. The trial-to-trial reliabilities of any parameter regarding grip were fair or high (ICC=0.686-0.927). The changing points of muscle oxygenation kinetics appeared before reaching an almost steady state, which showed a high reliability and they were considered to reflect the shift of physiological mechanisms. In particular, the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for the time to reach maximum Deoxy-Hb and Oxy-Hb values and regression coefficient in an increasing phase of Oxy-Hb were very high (ICC=0.894-0.947). It was found that the trial-to-trial reproducibility of grip force and muscle oxygenation kinetics is very high during the whole 6 min in RRG, but is poor during the post-inflection phase. The reproducibility of the grip force and muscle oxygenation kinetics in the phase before reaching an almost steady state during RRG is fair, and the decrease of the grip force in this phase may be influenced by the muscle oxygenation kinetics.