• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers D
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.247-254
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• 2001

Silent period(SP) is transient stops of muscle activity that are induced by mechanical or electrical stimulus and the duration of silent period is a important parameter that have been associated with symptoms of masticatory dysfunction. Muscle fatigue is induced by sustained muscular contractions. It is associated with the external manifestations as the inability to maintain a desired force output, muscular tremor, and localized pain. Muscle fatigue is a parameter that have been measured or monitored the deterioration of a performance of muscles. On the study of relationship between SP and masticatory muscle fatigue, Nagasawa suggested that SP increases up to 3 min. from the beginning of clenching when the subjects performed sustained contractions at 50% maximum clenching level. In this paper, in order to evaluate a relationship between SP and muscle fatigue, 10 SPs per 1 minute are measured at 10%, 20%, 50% maximum clenching level. We used the median frequency in order to quantify the degree of muscle fatigue. However, the results shows that the duration of silent period was not significantly affected by differing levels of muscle fatigue. Therefore, we suggest that the SP is not increased or decreased as the results of muscle fatigue, also the origin of the SP generation mechanism is discussed.