Scientific Programme
Biomechanics & Motor control
IS-BM06 - Exercise and the central nervous system: mechanisms, performance, and therapy
Date: 03.07.2025, Time: 13:45 - 15:00, Session Room: Castello 1
Description
Fatiguing exercise is characterized by a reduction in the ability to produce voluntary force and by an increase in general sensation of fatigue. The interaction between central and peripheral mechanisms contributing to fatigue is complex and varies with exercise modality and between healthy and clinical individuals. Detailed understanding of the two components is crucial for performance and for improving physical and mental health in clinical settings. The symposium delves into the complex interplay between the brain and body, exploring recent research on neuromuscular fatigue, exercise regulation, and neuromodulation. Speakers will offer fresh insights into how neural and muscular systems interact to shape performance and therapeutic potential across diverse populations. Dr. Hureau will provide a structured synthesis of recent insights into the limit of exercise with a particular focus on the brain-muscle interactions and their consequences on neuromuscular fatigue and exercise performance. Dr. Angius will talk about the application of non-invasive brain stimulation for understanding the brain mechanisms involved in exercise regulation and recent applications for improving physical function. Dr. Sidhu will cover factors behind neurophysiological responses to neuromodulation, including experimental evidence on metaplasticity in multiple sclerosis and older adults. Key research areas are highlighted, such as personalised treatments, standardised protocols, and therapies.
Chair(s)
Luca Angius
Northumbria University, Sport Exercise and Rehabilitation
United Kingdom
Speaker A
Thomas Hureau
University of Strasbourg, Sport Sciences
France
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When muscles talk back to the brain: the regulation of neuromuscular fatigue and performance during exercise
Neuromuscular fatigue compromises exercise performance and is determined by central and peripheral mechanisms. Central fatigue is defined as a decrease in neural activation of muscle that can occur at cortical and/or spinal level, while peripheral fatigue is associated to biochemical changes at or distal to the neuromuscular junction that cause an attenuated contractile response to neural output. Interactions between the two components of fatigue can occur via neural pathways, including feedback and feedforward processes. This talk discusses the influence of feedback and feedforward mechanisms on exercise limitation. In terms of feedback mechanisms, particular attention is given to group III/IV sensory neurons which link limb muscle with the central nervous system. Central corollary discharge, a copy of the neural drive from the brain to the working muscles, provides a signal from the motor system to sensory systems and is considered a feedforward mechanism that might influence fatigue and consequently exercise performance. We highlight findings from studies supporting the existence of a ‘critical threshold of peripheral fatigue’, a previously proposed hypothesis based on the idea that a negative feedback loop operates to protect the exercising limb muscle from severe threats to homeostasis during whole-body exercise. While the threshold theory remains to be disproven within a given task, it is not generalisable across different exercise modalities. The ‘sensory tolerance limit’, a more theoretical concept, may address this issue and explain exercise tolerance in more global terms and across exercise modalities. The ‘sensory tolerance limit’ can be viewed as a negative feedback loop which accounts for the sum of all feedback (locomotor muscles, respiratory muscles, organs, and muscles not directly involved in exercise) and feedforward signals processed within the central nervous system with the purpose of regulating the intensity of exercise to ensure that voluntary activity remains tolerable. Using an integrative physiology approach, this talk will provide a structured synthesis of recent insights into the limit of exercise in humans and should be of interest for a large audience, from scientists interested in exercise performance in athletes to those concerned by exercise tolerance in patients.
Speaker B
Luca Angius
Northumbria University, Sport Exercise and Rehabilitation
United Kingdom
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Non-invasive Brain Stimulation: implications for exercise science research and applications for physical and mental health
The brain-muscle interaction has always been an area of interest among researchers due to its importance for exercise regulation and for the development of exercise induced fatigue in healthy and clinical population. Despite its importance, some aspects of the feedforward mechanism from the motor system to recruit the muscle (i.e. neural drive) are still poorly understood. Experimental evidence provided by brain imaging techniques are mostly correlative and crucial for identifying the neural processes for motor task. Over the last three decades, the current understanding of brain function for motor execution has been significantly increased by research involving non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques. NIBS are laboratory techniques capable of altering brain function in a safe, reversible and temporary manner by delivering magnetic field or electrical current to targeted neural networks. As such, the manipulation of neural networks allows researchers to establish cause-effect relationships between brain function and motor performance. This unique property of NIBS application has opened new possibilities for understanding the role of different neural networks relevant for exercise regulation and for the development of fatigue The application of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) provided important knowledge about the neural mechanisms within the motor pathway responsible for the development of central and supraspinal fatigue. More recently, another NIBS technique called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been used in exercise science. tDCS can alter spontaneous firing rate of targeted neurons beyond the stimulation time as its effect can last over 1 hour for acute administration (i.e. single administration) or months when administered repeatedly (i.e. over several days). Collectively, the tDCS administration demonstrated significant enhancement of maximal voluntary strength, sport-specific motor performance and endurance performance alongside a significant reduction in perceived exertion. The current knowledge provided by NIBS led to groundbreaking findings on the neural basis of brain function during exercise with the possibility to develop novel non-pharmacological interventions in healthy and clinical populations for improving exercise tolerance. In this talk, I will present the most updated findings and applications for NIBS in healthy populations and their relevance to understand the role of neural component on feedforward mechanism for exercise regulation and fatigue related mechanisms. Furthermore, I will provide experimental evidence on novel network-based approaches to optimise the synergy between NIBS and physical exercise for improving physical and mental health. By covering a research topic related to the role of the brain during exercise and NIBS, this talk aims to attract the interest of audience including physiologists, clinicians and neuroscientists.
Speaker C
Simranjit Sidhu
The University of Adelaide, Physiology
Australia
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Neuroplasticity meets fatigue and pain: Exploring neuromodulation in clinical populations
Physical fatigue and pain are common and complex symptoms experienced by many clinical populations including Multiple Sclerosis (MS), cardiovascular disease, cancer and older adults. Its development can be influenced by physiological and psychological factors. Neuromodulation is an emerging therapeutic approach for managing psychophysiological fatigue. It involves the use of techniques such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) that alter nerve activity and neurotransmitter function to improve physical function and ameliorate fatigue and pain. Studies concerning the viability of neuromodulation applied to the brain have yielded positive, yet, often variable results in both responsiveness of the brain and motor behaviour (e.g. exercise performance and pain ratings). High intra and inter-individual variability in response to neuromodulatory techniques is thought to be related to both intrinsic (e.g. age and sex) and extrinsic (e.g. experimental parameters) factors. For example, more robust and less variable neurophysiological outcomes have been produced in studies involving the application of priming neuromodulation prior to subsequent application of neuromodulation, with a short interval in between; a concept known as metaplasticity. In the treatment of clinical fatigue and pain, application of tDCS for example has been shown to be potentially efficacious, but, understanding of the exact mechanisms is incomplete, and the evidence on the influence of priming and subsequent neuromodulation application on fatigue remains scarce. In this talk, I will discuss some of the underlying factors that contribute to the variable neurophysiological and sensorimotor responses seen with different neuromodulatory approaches. I will also provide some limited experimental evidence of metaplastic responses to neuromodulation and fatiguing exercise in people with MS and older adults. As the field of neuromodulation continues to evolve, it is imperative to address the variable outcomes through future research focused on enhancing efficacy and applicability of neuromodulation therapies. I will provide a critical appraisal of these key areas including individualised treatment approaches, longitudinal studies, standardised protocols for comparison across studies and clinical populations, neurological and non-neurological mechanistic insights, study of diverse clinical populations, and combination with other therapies (pharmacological and lifestyle modifications).