Conceived and designed the experiments: CH JL HP FB JF JRF JB. Performed the experiments: CH JL HP FB JF JRF JB. Analyzed the data: CH JL HP FB JF JRF JB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: CH JL HP FB JF JRF JB. Wrote the paper: CH JL HP FB JF JRF JB.
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Enhanced recovery following physical activity and exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) has become a priority for athletes. Consequently, a number of post-exercise recovery strategies are used, often without scientific evidence of their benefits. Within this framework, the purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of whole body cryotherapy (WBC), far infrared (FIR) or passive (PAS) modalities in hastening muscular recovery within the 48 hours after a simulated trail running race. In 3 non-adjoining weeks, 9 well-trained runners performed 3 repetitions of a simulated trail run on a motorized treadmill, designed to induce muscle damage. Immediately (post), post 24 h, and post 48 h after exercise, all participants tested three different recovery modalities (WBC, FIR, PAS) in a random order over the three separate weeks. Markers of muscle damage (maximal isometric muscle strength, plasma creatine kinase [CK] activity and perceived sensations [i.e. pain, tiredness, well-being]) were recorded before, immediately after (post), post 1 h, post 24 h, and post 48 h after exercise. In all testing sessions, the simulated 48 min trail run induced a similar, significant amount of muscle damage. Maximal muscle strength and perceived sensations were recovered after the first WBC session (post 1 h), while recovery took 24 h with FIR, and was not attained through the PAS recovery modality. No differences in plasma CK activity were recorded between conditions. Three WBC sessions performed within the 48 hours after a damaging running exercise accelerate recovery from EIMD to a greater extent than FIR or PAS modalities.
Endurance events such as long distance running, cycling or triathlon competitions require extensive physical and psychological involvement of the athlete during both the training and the competition in order to achieve success. Well-trained runners complete training sessions practically every day or two, and so acute recovery becomes a vital factor in supporting supplementary training loads or competitions
A variety of authorized strategies are proposed to alleviate the deleterious effects of EIMD and enhance recovery such as nutritional supplementation
Other recovery modalities such as far-infrared (FIR) therapy are also used to relieve pain in patients with muscular disorders and more recently have been considered as an efficient recovery strategy in sport
In order to determine the most appropriate recovery strategy for running-induced muscle damage, this study compared three different recovery modalities (WBC, FIR and passive [PAS] recovery) on symptoms of EIMD following a strenuous simulated trail running race performed by highly-trained endurance runners.
These experiments were conducted according to the Helsinki Declaration (1964: revised in 2001) and the protocol was approved by the local Ethics committee (Ile-de-France, XI, France. Ref. 200978). All subjects gave their written informed consent before the initiation of the experiment.
Nine well-trained runners participated in the study (see
Variables (units) | Subjects (n = 9) |
Age (years) | 31.8±6.5 |
Height (m) | 1.79±0.06 |
Weight (kg) | 70.6±6.5 |
Training in running (sessions.week−1) | 4.8±1.3 |
VO2max (ml.min−1.kg−1) | 62.0±3.9 |
MAS (km.h−1) | 18.7±1.1 |
V VT1 (km.h−1) | 14.2±0.7 |
V VT2 (km.h−1) | 16.7±1.2 |
10 km personal best (hour:min:sec) | 00:34:48±00:02:35 |
Semi-marathon personal best (hour:min:sec) | 01:17:12±00:06:12 |
Marathon personal best (hour:min:sec) | 02:45:38±00:15:58 |
Data are means ± SD.
Legend
This study was conducted in order to analyze the effect of three different recovery modalities on EIMD following a simulated trail running race. In three non-adjoining weeks, the nine runners performed three identical repetitions of a simulated trail run on a motorized treadmill, designed to induce muscle damage. Within the first hour (post), 24 h (post 24 h), and 48 h (post 48 h), after each strenuous running exercise, all participants tested one of the three recovery modalities (WBC, FIR, PAS) presented in a random order. Classical indicators of EIMD such as, plasma CK activity, isometric maximal voluntary torque, and perceived sensations of pain, tiredness and well-being (typically grouped under the term DOMS), were assessed immediately before (pre) and after (post) each simulated running trail, and after each of the three recovery sessions (post 1 h, post 24 h, post 48 h). All participants performed three identical running trails and used all the three recovery modalities over the experiment. Between trials, a minimum of three weeks of low intensity training was ensured, in order to allow a complete muscular recovery. However, in order to limit and control the development of additional EIMD, subjects were asked not to train for the three days preceding and succeeding the data recording.
One week before the experiment, subjects were familiarized with the test scheme and location and preliminary testing was performed. From this week onwards until the end of the experimentation period, the training loads of all subjects were controlled by asking them to train with a heart rate monitor, and they did not use other recovery strategies like stretching, nutritional supplementation, electro stimulation, or cold water immersion. Moreover, in order to control the influence of other recovery modalities, nutritional recommendations were sent to runners during all the experiment and they were asked to respect identical menus during the three days preceding and succeeding the running sessions.
Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) was determined on a motorized treadmill (H/P/Cosmos® Saturn, Traunstein, Germany). The test consisted of a 6 min warm-up at 12 km.h−1 and an incremental period in which the running speed was increased by 1 km.h−1 every 2 min until volitional exhaustion. Oxygen uptake (VO2), minute ventilation (VE), and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) were continuously recorded with a breath by breath gas exchange analyzer (Quark CPET, Cosmed, Roma, Italy). Heart rate (HR) was recorded using a chest belt (Cosmed wireless HR monitor, Roma, Italy). The criteria used for the determination of VO2max were threefold: a plateau in VO2 despite an increase in power output, a RER above 1.1, and a heart rate (HR) above 90% of the predicted maximal HR
Once a month within a three months' period, subjects completed a simulated trail running race with a large amount of downhill sections (total downhill time: 15 min), well-known to induce muscle damage
Flat, 0% gradient section; Up, +10% gradient section; Down, −15% gradient section.
Subjects were randomly assigned to one recuperation modality (WBC, FIR or PAS) to be used after the simulated trail running race (post), post 24 h and post 48 h when EIMD are typically reported to be the most important
Finally, the last recovery modality was a passive recovery (control modality) during which subjects were seated comfortably in an armchair for 30 min, located in the same temperate room previously presented.
Indicators of EIMD included maximal muscle force, muscle enzyme creatine kinase (CK) activity in the plasma, and perceived sensations of muscle pain, tiredness and well-being, which have been commonly used as indirect markers of muscle damage in previous studies
Knee extensors' isometric maximal voluntary torque was assessed at a 70° knee angle with an isokinetic ergometer (Con-Trex Multi-Joint System, Dübendorf, Switzerland).After a brief warm-up which consisted of 5 min low intensity running and submaximal isometric contractions, subjects were placed in a seated position in the ergometer chair with their hips and thigh strapped to the seat. Subjects were instructed to extend their knee “as fast and as hard as possible”
Each time, blood samples were collected before MVC had been performed, in order to avoid a potential influence of this maximal exercise on CK level into the plasma. Plasma CK activity was determined from a 5 ml sample of whole blood collected into vacutainer tubes via antecubital venipuncture. Once the blood sample was taken, tubes were mixed by turning and placed on ice for 30 s before centrifugation (10 min, 3000 rev.min−1, 4°C). The obtained plasma sample was then stored in multiple aliquots (Ependorf type, 500 µl per samples) at −80°C until analysis. As a marker of sarcolemma disruption, plasma CK activity was measured spectrophotometrically by using commercially available reagents (Roche/Hitachi, Meylan, France).
The effects of recovery interventions on EIMD were also recorded through the assessment of the perceived sensations of subjects. The Mindeval system (
All data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD). A two-way analysis of variance (recovery modality×period) for repeated measures was performed to analyze the effects of the running trail (Pre vs. Post, Post 1 h, Post 24 h, Post 48 h) and recovery intervention (Post vs. Post 1 h, Post 24 h, Post 48 h) with MVC, plasma CK activity, and perceived sensations as dependent variables. The LSD Fischer post-hoc test was used to determine the between-means differences if the analysis of variance revealed a significant main effect for period or interaction of recovery modality×period. For all statistical analyses, a
No significant differences between running sessions were observed in absolute terms at baseline for maximal voluntary torque, plasma CK activity, and perceived sensations.
Results indicated a significant MVC decline immediately after the trail run whatever the groups, without differences between them (mean post MVC decline for all subjects and sessions: −9.6%,
† significantly different from post condition (
In all subjects, CK activity significantly increased after the simulated trail running race (post: +51.7%,
Variables (units) | Pre | Post | Post 1 h | Post 24 h | Post 48 h |
|
|||||
|
0.0±0.0 | 40.5±18.4 |
44.2±20.9 |
192.3±179.3 |
107.5±121.1 |
|
0.0±0.0 | 58.2±18.9 |
73.9±33.4 |
318.9±224.7 |
195.3±141.6 |
|
0.0±0.0 | 56.4±25.1 |
63.7±26.5 |
231.8±132.1 |
137.6±99.8 |
|
|||||
|
1.6±3.2 | 61.9±19.0 |
58.3±18.4 |
49.3±29.1 |
45.2±29.1 |
|
0.2±0.7 | 60.6±20.7 |
31.7±23.8 |
33.3±26.1 |
39.0±24.0 |
|
0.1±0.3 | 55.7±18.2 |
44.3±23.7 |
53.9±25.5 |
58.9±19.0 |
|
|||||
|
8.3±9.8 | 75.3±11.2 |
67.8±21.3 |
65.8±20.0 |
61.8±15.9 |
|
5.2±9.8 | 77.9±13.3 |
44.6±26.3 |
35.9±19.4 |
46.6±24.0 |
|
8.7±12.3 | 65.4±26.6 |
52.2±27.0 |
49.2±21.4 |
60.7±26.7 |
|
|||||
|
86.8±16.9 | 56.6±31.9 |
67.9±28.2 |
66.9±27.6 |
72.4±19.2 |
|
77.7±25.2 | 65.4±26.6 | 74.9±26.7 | 87.1±0.0 |
81.2±20.4 |
|
93.9±9.0 | 58.4±26.8 |
69.8±25.3 |
65.4±21.1 |
68.7±28.1 |
Data are means ± SD.
Legend
*significantly different from pre condition (
significantly different from post condition (
significantly different from post 1 h condition (
significantly different from post 24 h condition (
Psychological parameters were influenced both by the strenuous running exercise and recovery modality during the following 48 h (
This study was designed to compare the effects of different recovery strategies following a damaging simulated trail run, performed by highly-trained endurance runners. As expected, this running exercise induced significant muscle damage, manifested through a reduction in maximal torque generating capacity, an increase in plasma CK activity, and an increase in pain and tiredness sensations. The main results are that MVC and perceived sensations were recovered after the first WBC session (post 1 h) while recovery took 24 hours in the FIR recovery modality and was not achieved with the PAS modality. However, no beneficial effect of recovery modality was observed on plasma CK activity.
A decrease in maximal torque generating capacity is widely accepted as a marker of muscle damage following a strenuous exercise. This decline is magnified when exercise involves eccentric contractions
The most beneficial effects of recovery sessions organized within the first 48 hours after the simulated trail running race were recorded with the WBC modality. MVC was recovered after the first WBC session (post 1 h), while recovery took 24 h with FIR, and was not attained through PAS recovery. On contrary, Costello et al.
In contrast to previous studies, the WBC session did not influence plasma CK activity within the first 48 hours after exercise
In conclusion, this study was designed to compare the effects of three different recovery modalities (WBC vs. FIR vs. FIR) during the acute recovery period (post 48 h) following a damaging simulated trail run. WBC (3 min at −110°C) was the best recovery modality to hasten recovery from EIMD by limiting the torque loss and subjective sensations of pain, classically recorded after repeated eccentric contractions.
The authors would like to thank the athletes who took part in this experiment, and the medical department of INSEP for the use of the WBC and the availability of the nurses for the blood collection.