ROBIN SOURON
Associate professor, University of Nantes(France)
09/2014-12/2017 – Saint-Etienne, France & Calgary, Canada
Effects of chronic tendon vibration on muscle neuromechanical properties (Co-Supervisor – Principal Supervisor: Dr Thomas Lapole)
Biography
Dr. Robin Souron, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the University of Nantes (France). From 2014 to 2017, he was a PhD student under the supervision of Dr Thomas Lapole and Prof Guillaume Millet at Jean Monnet University in Saint-Etienne (France) and at the University of Calgary (Canada).
During his PhD, Robin first focused on how the central nervous system was modulated by prolonged exposure to local vibration. With a better understanding of these acute effects, the second part of his PhD was dedicated to investigate the effect of local vibration as a training intervention to increase functional capacities in healthy young and elderly subjects as well as in clinical populations (i.e. patients with anterior cruciate ligament lesion). In 2018, he obtained a 3 year post-doctoral position supervised by Prof Guillaume Millet. This postdoctoral position was dedicated to the investigation of the prevalence of fatigue in intensive care unit survivors, and the role of neuromuscular function in this sensation of fatigue. In 2019, he was recruited as an Associate Professor at the University of Toulon. His work in the IAPS laboratory of the University of Toulon focuses on implementing an easy test to investigate the level of fatigability in children that will help to detect sedentary behaviors in this population. This will help to target future interventions to reduce the level of sedentary and prevent chronic disease related to this high level of inactivity. Further, Robin leads research focusing on understanding and treating fatigue (especially by using tailored physical activity protocols) in children with clinical conditions, e.g. children with cancer and children who experienced prolonged stays in intensive care units.
Main results of the work we have done together
- We reported on a large sample of subject (n = 351) a high prevalence of fatigue in intensive care unit survivors, even 5 years after hospital discharge.
- In contrast to the long-standing assumption that exposure to local vibration acutely increases pre-synaptic inhibition, we reported the first direct evidences that spinal modulation in response to local vibration relies on a decrease in motoneuron excitability rather than any changes at the pre-synaptic level.
- We reported that the chronic application of local vibration is effective in increasing the maximal strength of healthy young and elderly subjects, and in preventing the commonly reported decrease in muscle force in patients who suffer from anterior cruciate ligament lesion.
Main publications associated with this work
Robin Souron , Stéphane Baudry , Guillaume Y Millet , Thomas Lapole . Vibration-induced Depression in Spinal Loop Excitability Revisited. J Physiol. 2019 Nov.
Robin Souron, Adrien Farabet, Léonard Féasson, Alain Belli, Guillaume Y Millet, Thomas Lapole. Eight Weeks of Local Vibration Training Increases Dorsiflexor Muscle Cortical Voluntary Activation. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2017 Jun 1.
Robin Souron, Thibault Besson, Guillaume Y Millet, Thomas Lapole. Acute and Chronic Neuromuscular Adaptations to Local Vibration Training. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2017 Oct.