The Effect of Electrical Muscle Stimulation System on Gait and Balance Patterns in Male Athletes

The path of the center of pressure while walking reflects the general mechanics of the body. Also, the electrical stimulation system triggers movement units, including the lower limbs. The present study investigated the effect of the electrical stimulation system on gait and balance patterns in young athletes.

This research is applied and semi-experimental. In this study, 15 male athletes were selected by convenience sampling. The present study was performed in February 1400 at Shahriar Health Club. Participants were asked to walk at a self-selected speed. In the middle of the walking path, a foot-scanning device was placed, which recorded information about the path of the center of pressure, the relative duration of the stance phases, and the forward angle in both positions with and without the muscle stimulation vest. After checking the normality of the data using the Shapiro-Wilk test, paired sample t-test was used to analyze the data.

The results showed that the electrical muscle stimulation system had a favorable effect on the gait pattern of athletes compared to those without a vest. Electrical stimulation led to a slight increase in pressure center oscillations and improved displacement of pressure fluctuations (p=0.001) in the vest mode, which showed the effectiveness of this method.

The results of the present study showed that strengthening the muscles of the lower extremities by the electrical muscle stimulation system had favorable effects on athletes' gait pattern and foot pressure fluctuations.