Leg Immersion in Warm Water, Stretch-Shortening Exercise, and Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage

Abstract

Context: Whether muscle warming protects against exercise-induced muscle damage is unknown.Objective: To determine the effect of leg immersion in warm water before stretch-shortening exercise on the time course of indirect markers of exercise-induced muscle damage.Design: Crossover trial. Setting: Human kinetics laboratory.Patients or Other Participants: Eleven healthy, untrained men (age 5 21.5 6 1.7 years).Intervention(s): Participants' legs were immersed in a water bath at 44 6 16C for 45 minutes.Main Outcome Measure(s): Creatine kinase changes in the blood, muscle soreness, prolonged (within 72 hours) impairment in maximal voluntary contraction force and height of drop jump, and electrically evoked muscle force at low and high stimulation frequencies at short and long muscle lengths.Results: Leg immersion in warm water before stretchshortening exercise reduced most of the indirect markers of exercise-induced muscle damage, including creatine kinase activity in the blood, muscle soreness, maximal voluntary contraction force, and jump height. The values for maximal voluntary contraction force and jump height, however, were higher during prewarming than for the control condition at 48 hours after stretch-shortening exercise, but this difference was only minor at other time points. Muscle prewarming did not bring about any changes in the dynamics of low-frequency fatigue, registered at either short or long muscle length, within 72 hours of stretch-shortening exercise.Conclusions: Leg immersion in warm water before stretchshortening exercise reduced most of the indirect markers of exercise-induced muscle damage. However, the clinical application of muscle prewarming may be limited, because decreasing muscle damage did not necessarily lead to improved voluntary performance.Key Words: electric stimulation, muscle length, neuromuscular performance, time course Key Points N Muscle prewarming did not change maximal voluntary contraction force or jump height during stretch-shortening exercise, but it did increase the ratio of electrically induced muscle force at 100 Hz of long muscle length to short muscle length.N Muscle prewarming affected indirect markers of muscle damage, decreasing blood creatine kinase activity and muscle soreness and increasing maximal voluntary contraction force and jump height within 72 hours after stretch-shortening exercise.N Muscle prewarming did not change the dynamics of low-frequency fatigue in short or long muscle lengths within 72 hours of stretch-shortening exercise.

21-day Balneotherapy Improves Cardiopulmonary Function and Physical Capacity of Pilots

“…These effects would increase oxygen supply to the skeletal muscles, which would facilitate muscular improvement. The increase in physical capacity seen in this study is in accord with other findings that leg immersion in warm water increases maximal voluntary contraction force and jump height 23) . In addition, warm water immersion has also been reported to affect indirect markers of muscle damage, decreasing blood creatine kinase activity and muscle soreness within 72 hours after stretch-shortening exercise 23) .…”

“…The increase in physical capacity seen in this study is in accord with other findings that leg immersion in warm water increases maximal voluntary contraction force and jump height 23) . In addition, warm water immersion has also been reported to affect indirect markers of muscle damage, decreasing blood creatine kinase activity and muscle soreness within 72 hours after stretch-shortening exercise 23) . Therefore, our results indicate that balneotherapy has some favourable influence on the restoration of the muscle functions of pilots.…”

Evidence of the physiotherapeutic interventions used currently after exercise-induced muscle damage: Systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Cryotherapy is known to be used in the initial treatment of traumatic soft tissue injuries (Cheung et al, 2003) and in the recovery from sport activities, particularly with the aim to minimize DOMS (Jakeman et al, 2009;Sellwood et al, 2007;Skurvydas et al, 2008;Wilcock, Cronin, & Hing, 2006). Although the underlying mechanism of DOMS remains uncertain, it is generally accepted that "muscle soreness" is caused by inflammation of the damaged muscle and/or connective tissues and the efflux of substances to the extra cellular space that sensitizes type III and IV free nerve endings to mechanical, chemical or thermal stimulation (Armstrong, 1984;Cheung et al, 2003).…”

Heat acclimation does not reduce the impact of hyperthermia on central fatigue

“…The subjects sat upright in the dynamometer chair with the knee joint positioned at an angle of 120°(180°-full knee extension). The equipment and procedure for electrical stimulation were essentially the same as described previously (Skurvydas et al 2006(Skurvydas et al , 2008. Direct muscle stimulation was applied using two carbonized rubber electrodes, covered with a thin layer of electrode gel (ECG-EEG Gel; Medigel, Modi'in, Israel).…”