Cold-Water Immersion Has No Effect on Muscle Stiffness After Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the effect of cryotherapy on muscle stiffness after exercise-induced muscle damage.

DESIGN

A leg-to-leg comparison model.

SETTING

University research laboratory.

PARTICIPANTS

Thirty (30) untrained men (21.1 ± 1.6 years, 177.6 ± 6.4 cm, 75.9 ± 10.0 kg, and 15.9 ± 2.9% fat mass) with no history of lower-limb injury and no experience in resistance training.

INTERVENTION

All participants underwent a plyometric exercise program to induce muscle damage; however, randomly, one leg was assigned to a treatment condition and subjected twice to cold-water immersion of the lower limb at 10°C (±1°C) for 10 minutes, while the other leg was assigned to control.

MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES

Longitudinal stiffness and passive transverse stiffness were evaluated on the soleus and gastrocnemius muscles at 4 moments: pre-exercise, immediately after exercise, 24 hours, and 72 hours after the damage protocol. Furthermore, pressure pain threshold (PPT) and maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) were also assessed in the same periods.

RESULTS

No significant differences between control and cryotherapy were observed in regard to MVIC (P = 0.529), passive longitudinal stiffness (P = 0.315), and passive transverse stiffness (P = 0.218). Only a significant decrease was observed in PPT on the soleus muscle in the cryotherapy compared with the control leg immediately after exercise (P = 0.040).

CONCLUSIONS

The results show that cryotherapy had no influence on muscle stiffness. However, cryotherapy had a positive effect on PPT immediately after exercise.

Impact of Patellar Tendinopathy on Knee Proprioception: A Cross-Sectional Study

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether high-level athletes with patellar tendinopathy have diminished knee proprioceptive acuity.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

University research laboratory (institutional).

PARTICIPANTS

Twenty-one basketball and volleyball players with patellar tendinopathy (13 men and 8 women; mean age 24.5 ± 3.6; body mass index = 22.5 ± 2.0 kg/m) and an equal number of athletes without symptoms of patellar tendinopathy injury were included in this study.

ASSESSMENTS

Participants underwent knee proprioception assessments on a single day. Furthermore, age, sex, height, weight, VISA-P (Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment) questionnaire sports participation, medical history, knee injuries, previous treatment, and medication were obtained.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Knee proprioception was evaluated by assessing sense of resistance, using a weight discrimination protocol, and joint position sense (JPS).

RESULTS

No significant differences were observed in JPS at 30 and 60 degrees of knee flexion between groups (P = 0.165 and 0.481, respectively). In regard to the ability to discriminate weight, significant differences between the 2 groups were found with the tendinopathy group showing a higher percentage of error (P = 0.009), namely when the set of incremental weights varied by 10% from the standard weight.

CONCLUSIONS

Athletes with patellar tendinopathy have a diminished perception of force signals required for weight discrimination, whereas JPS remains unaffected in these athletes.

The effect of kinesiology tape on knee proprioception in healthy subjects

BACKGROUND

Kinesiology tape can improve athletic performance; however, due to cutaneous stimulation its application can have an influence on proprioception.

OBJECTIVES

To determine the effects of kinesiology tape on knee proprioception applied to quadriceps, namely in the joint position sense (JPS) and in the threshold to detect passive movement (TTDPM), both immediately after and 24 h after its application.

METHODS

Thirty young healthy participants were randomly divided into experimental and control group. In the experimental group, a kinesiology tape on the quadriceps muscle was applied. The JPS and the TTDPM of the knee was assessed before, immediately after and 24 h after the kinesiology tape intervention.

RESULTS

No significant differences were found in the assessment made before intervention. The Friedman Test showed that kinesiology tape had no influence on JPS in either group over time (p > 0.05). However, the TTDPM decreased significantly immediately after and 24 h after its application (p < 0.05).

An Acute Bout of Quadriceps Muscle Stretching has no Influence on Knee Joint Proprioception

The main objective of this study was to determine if an acute bout of static stretching of the quadriceps muscle affects the sense of joint position, the threshold to detect passive movement, and the sense of force. Thirty young, healthy men (age : 22.1 ± 2.7 years) were randomly divided into two groups. The Stretching Group (n=15) underwent stretching of the dominant quadriceps muscle, which comprised ten passive stretches lasting 30 seconds each, while the Control Group (n=15) remained seated for the same length of time. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to establish intragroup differences over time, and an independent sample t-test was used to compare the dependent variables between groups at each moment. None of the measurements revealed any significant change between both groups in each assessment moment or between moments within groups (p>0.05). This study demonstrated that static quadriceps muscle stretching has no effect on the sense of knee joint position, threshold to detect passive movement, and force sense, suggesting that stretching does not have appreciable effect on the spindle firing characteristics and tendon organs activation.

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

INTRODUCTION

Exhaustive and/or unaccustomed exercise, mainly involving eccentric muscle actions, induces temporary muscle damage, evidenced by delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and decreased muscle function. Different strategies to recover from its signs and symptoms have been studied and, as a result, a significant number of articles on this issue have been published.

OBJECTIVE

To assess whether some modalities currently used in physiotherapy such as massage, cryotherapy, stretching and low-intensity exercise are effective for treating the signs and symptoms of exercise-induced muscle damage.

METHODS

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), written in English or Portuguese, that included physiotherapeutic interventions [i.e., massage, cryotherapy, stretching and low-intensity exercise, on adult human subjects (18-60 years old) of both gender] were searched on electronic databases including MEDLINE, CINHAL, EMBASE, PEDro and SPORTDiscus.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

"Muscle soreness" and "muscle strength" were the outcome measures included in the meta-analysis.

RESULTS

Thirty-five studies were included; nine analysed the effects of massage, 10 examined the effects of cryotherapy, nine investigated the effects of stretching and seven focused on low-intensity exercise intervention. Massage was the only intervention with positive effects, reducing soreness at 24 h, on average, 0.33 on 10 cm visual analog scale (95 percent CI: -0.59, -0.07) and increasing muscle recovery by 1.87 percent (95 percent CI: 0.30, 3.44). Additionally, there is inconclusive evidence to support the use of cryotherapy, while there is little evidence to prove the efficacy of stretching and low-intensity exercise.

CONCLUSION

Massage proved slightly effective in the relief of symptoms and signs of exercise-induced muscle damage. Therefore, its mean effect was too small to be of clinical relevance. There is a lack of evidence to support the use of cryotherapy, stretching and low-intensity exercise.