Whole body heat stress increases motor cortical excitability and skill acquisition in humans

Andrew E Littmann; Richard K Shields

doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2015.11.001

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Whole body heat stress increases motor cortical excitability and skill acquisition in humans

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Whole body heat stress increases motor cortical excitability and skill acquisition in humans

Andrew E Littmann and Richard K Shields

Clinical neurophysiology, Vol.127(2), pp.1521-1529

02/2016

DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2015.11.001

PMCID: PMC4747790

PMID: 26616546

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Abstract

•Heat stress may be a useful way to prime the central nervous system to enhance movement skill acquisition.•Heat stress increased motor cortical excitability.•Heat stress enhanced learning during a motor skill acquisition task. Vigorous systemic exercise stimulates a cascade of molecular and cellular processes that enhance central nervous system (CNS) plasticity and performance. The influence of heat stress on CNS performance and learning is novel. We designed two experiments to determine whether passive heat stress (1) facilitated motor cortex excitability and (2) improved motor task acquisition compared to no heat stress. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) from the first dorsal interosseus (FDI) were collected before and after 30min of heat stress at 73°C. A second cohort of subjects performed a motor learning task using the FDI either following heat or the no heat condition. Heat stress increased heart rate to 65% of age-predicted maximum. After heat, mean resting MEP amplitude increased 48% (p<0.05). MEP stimulus–response amplitudes did not differ according to stimulus intensity. In the second experiment, heat stress caused a significant decrease in absolute and variable error (p<0.05) during a novel movement task using the FDI. Passive environmental heat stress (1) increases motor cortical excitability, and (2) enhances performance in a motor skill acquisition task. Controlled heat stress may prime the CNS to enhance motor skill acquisition during rehabilitation.

Cortical excitability

Motor learning

Heat stress

Details

Title: Subtitle: Whole body heat stress increases motor cortical excitability and skill acquisition in humans
Creators: Andrew E Littmann - Department of Physical Therapy, Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions, Regis University, Denver, CO 80221, USA
Richard K Shields - Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, 1-252 Medical Education Building, Iowa City, IA 52242-1190, USA
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Clinical neurophysiology, Vol.127(2), pp.1521-1529
DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2015.11.001
PMID: 26616546
PMCID: PMC4747790
NLM abbreviation: Clin Neurophysiol
ISSN: 1388-2457
eISSN: 1872-8952
Publisher: Elsevier B.V
Grant note: name: National Institute of Health, award: R01HD084645, R01HD082109
Language: English
Date published: 02/2016
Academic Unit: Orthopedics and Rehabilitation; Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science
Record Identifier: 9984047744202771

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