Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effects of three distinct post-activation potentiation (PAP) interventions-neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES), elastic band resistance, and squats-on neuromuscular activation during the smashing technique in high-level badminton athletes recovering from meniscus injuries. Furthermore, to elucidate the underlying mechanisms at the neuromotor control level through analyses of muscle synergy and intermuscular coherence. METHODS: Eighteen high-level male badminton athletes in the recovery phase of meniscus injuries were recruited. Surface electromyographic signals were recorded during forehand smash execution following respective interventions: squats, elastic band resistance, and NMES. Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) analyzed muscle synergies, extracting synergistic module counts, muscle weights, and activation duration parameters. Time-frequency coherence (TFC) was calculated for specific muscle pairs. RESULTS: The resistance band group (RBG) exhibited a significantly higher number of synergies (5.0 ± 0.63) compared to the squat group (SG) (3.33 ± 0.52, p = 0.005) and the electrical stimulation group (ESG) (2.33 ± 0.82, p < 0.001). In terms of muscle activation weights, the ESG showed markedly increased contributions from key lower limb muscles across multiple synergy modules. E.g., in SYN4, activation weights for gastrocnemius medialis (GM) and lateralis (GL) in the ESG (GM: 0.25 ± 0.31; GL: 0.28 ± 0.28) were significantly higher than in the SG (GM: 0.08 ± 0.20; GL: 0.06 ± 0.09) (p < 0.05), representing an increase exceeding 200%. Intermuscular coherence analysis revealed that the ESG demonstrated superior coherence across α, β, and γ bands for several trunk-limb muscle pairs. E.g., within the α band, the biceps BB-LD pair in the ESG was significantly higher than in both the SG (p = 0.002) and the EBG (p = 0.007). CONCLUSION: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation effectively optimizes muscle coordination patterns during smash execution in athletes recovering from meniscal injuries. It enhances activation of key muscle groups and multi-band neural coordination, representing an efficient rehabilitation strategy for neuromuscular control function optimization.