Investigation of the Effect of Mental Imagery Training on Electrical Fluctuation of Muscles Motor Units and Muscles Strength in Lower Limbs

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of mental imagery training on electrical fluctuation of muscles motor units and muscles strength in lower limbs. In this study, 30 healthy, previously untrained students with the mean age of 22.4±1.25 years, the mean height of 176.18±5.62 cm, and the mean weight of 67.65±6.15 were randomly assigned to a mental practice group (n=15) or control group (n=15). Mental practice group trained mental contraction of plantar flexion movement for 4 weeks (5 day per week), and control group did not train but participated in all measurements. The practice program included 50 mental maximal voluntary contractions for 2 sets of 25 repetitions. To determine the statistical difference in variables of the study the t-student test was used with the significant level of P≤0.05. The results of this study indicated that mental practice group significantly increased their plantar flexor maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) (P≤0.05). Also mental practice group significantly increased their gastronomies muscle EMG (P≤0.05). We concluded that mental practice can increase strength plantar flexor muscle, and this strength gain is attributed to the training-induced changes caused by programming central nervous system which increases activation level of agonist muscles and decreases activation level in antagonist muscles. Results showed that imagery training can affect athletic performance.