Agreement with Microcurrent Conductance, Serum Myoglobin, and Diagnostic Ultrasound When Evaluating Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

Abstract

Purpose/Hypothesis: To determine if agreement exists between microcurrent conductance through the skin over an injury, myoglobin levels in the serum, and diagnostic ultrasound measurements of swelling. Number of Subjects: 140. Materials/Methods: Subject underwent microcurrent conductance, serum myoglobin, diagnostic ultrasound, and strength testing before and after delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) was induced. Non-control subjects were also given a therapy wrap, dry heat, moist heat, or cold, either applied immediately or delayed 24 hours. Results: After induction of DOMS, there was agreement between significant 37% decreases in microcurrent conductance, significant 37% serum myoglobin increases, and significant 20% increases in quadriceps size, measured by diagnostic ultrasound. When either dry heat or cold was applied immediately, changes in these measurements were insignificant and less than 10%. Agreement was weaker when treatment was delayed 24 hours. Also, cold packs showed less than a 5% decrease in microcurrent conductance for covered areas compared to a 22% decrease for uncovered areas around the knee with 24 hour delay. Moist heat packs showed an insignificant change overall, but a significant 11% decrease for the covered center of the quadriceps with immediate treatment. Strength decreased 25% after DOMS, and all immediate treatments, along with 24 hour delayed cold and moist heat showed significantly smaller decreases. Conclusions: Changes in microcurrent conductance through the skin over injured tissue appear to be indicative of initial injury and recovery, and also for detecting the specific area of the injury. Clinical Relevance: Microcurrent through the skin over injured tissue appears to be a promising objective measurement of tissue injury as well as recovery from injury.

Effective Conservative Treatment of Medial Epicondylitis with Physical Therapy–A Case Study

“…On initial evaluation, pain was 8/10 on the verbal numerical rating scale (VNRS), with pain significantly impeding her work, and wrist flexor strength was 4/5 bilaterally, again limited by pain. Microcurrent injury detection [17,18,19,20] was also utilized, which demonstrates significantly decreased conductance over injured tissue [17,18,20], and demonstrates strong correlation to other objective measurements of injury such as blood tests and diagnostic ultrasound [17,18]. On the patient, decreased microcurrent conductance was detected on the medial side of both upper extremities, from the muscles of the flexor group in the mid forearm to proximal to the medial epicondyle on the humerus, with the left side extending a distance of 20 centimeters both above and below the medial epicondyle, and the right side 20 centimeters below and 15 centimeters above.…”

Foam rolling reduced total creatine kinase in acute muscle inflammation following long-distance running

“…Damaged muscle post-physical exercise can be described as the metabolic adaptation levels, which can be evaluated using a biomarker named Creatine Kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (Brancaccio et al, 2006). Other indicators that can be used to evaluate training adaptation include the level of leukocyte, monocyte, blood lactate, and range of motion (Hui et al, 2014;Jajtner et al, 2014;Larkin-Kaiser et al, 2015;Manojlović & Erčulj, 2019;Nikolaidis, 2017;Rossato et al, 2015).…”

Enhancing recovery from plyometric circuit training: The synergistic impact of dynamic stretching, BCAA supplementation, and sports massage on DOMS

“…Indicators of exercise adaptation also include changes in leukocyte and monocyte counts, blood lactate concentrations, and range of motion (Hui et al, 2014;Jajtner et al, 2014;Larkin-Kaiser et al, 2015;Manojlović & Erčulj, 2019;Nikolaidis, 2017;Rossato et al, 2015). Moreover, monitoring these physiological markers not only aides in determining the extent of recovery but also informs the implementation of targeted strategies to reduce the lingering effects of exercise-induced stress and accelerate the return to peak physical condition (Bachasson et al, 2017;Ware et al, 2018).…”