Benefits of using transcranial magnetic stimulation as a tool to facilitate the chronic knee injury rehabilitation.

The outcome was EMG amplitude during maximum voluntary contraction; the paper did not report knee strength, pain, function, or return to sport outcomes. The participants were 19 to 30 years old and had surgery more than 12 months prior, so the study did not test older adults or people with more recent surgery. The paper describes 24 young males, then lists 17 male and 7 female. The authors said optimal TMS intensity and frequency were not defined. The authors used EMG amplitude because joint torque measurement was not available in the lab. The authors said EMG maximum voluntary contraction data have session-to-session and subject-to-subject variability. The paper said subjects were unaware of the sham coil tilt, but it did not report whether researchers were blinded.

Do not conclude that TMS improves knee strength, function, or rehabilitation outcomes. The study measured only EMG amplitude during one session in 24 people with chronic knee injury, and the authors said TMS was not evaluated as a rehabilitation technique.