INTRODUCTION: Electrical stimulation devices, including the Russian Current (RC), have been increasingly used by lay people and health professionals that aim to increase strength and muscle volume, however, the studies related to this type of resource are scarce and contradictory in the current literature. OBJECTIVE: To assess whether electrical stimulation RC is capable of generating muscular hypertrophy in the rectus abdominal. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-one healthy volunteers were submitted to 30 sessions of electrical stimulation with RC on of the superior womb of the rectus abdominal muscle (SWMRA). Participants also underwent ultrasonography examinations before and immediately after the intervention with the purpose of measuring muscle thickness. For the statistical analyses, we used descriptive statistics with average, median and standard deviation, besides the paired T-test with a significance level of α = 0.05. RESULTS: Small increases were observed in muscle thickness measured in some of the volunteers; however, these did not result in statistical significance. CONCLUSION: The study showed that the RC not associated with regular physical exercise is unable to promote muscle hypertrophy.
Hypertrof; Muscles; Electrical stimulation; Ultrasonography
