Effect of fatigue strength exercise on anterior thigh skin temperature rewarming after cold stress test.

Mireia Muñoz-Alcamí,Marc Gimeno Raga,Jose Ignacio Priego-Quesada,Álvaro Durán Lozano,Marina Gil-Calvo

doi:10.1016/j.jtherbio.2021.103098

Mireia Muñoz-Alcamí, Marc Gimeno Raga + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtherbio.2021.103098

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Abstract

Although dynamic thermography skin temperature assessment has been used in medical field, scientific evidence in sports is scarce. The aim of the study was to assess changes in anterior thigh skin temperature in response to a cold stress test after a strength exercise fatiguing protocol. Ten physically active adults performed a familiarization session and two strength exercise sessions, one with dominant and the other with non-dominant lower limb. Participants performed bouts of 10 concentric and eccentric contractions of leg extensions in an isokinetic device until reaching around 30% of force loss. Infrared thermographic images were taken at baseline conditions and after the fatigue level from both thighs after being cooled using a cryotherapy system. ROIs included vastus medialis, rectus femoris, adductor and vastus lateralis. Skin temperature rewarming was assessed during 180s after the cooling process obtaining the coefficients of the following equation: ΔSkin temperature=β0+β1 * ln(T), being β0 and β1 the constant and slope coefficients, respectively, T the time elapsed following the cold stress in seconds, and ΔSkin temperature the difference between the skin temperature at T respect and the pre-cooling moment. Lower β0 and higher β1 were found for vastus lateralis and rectus femoris in the intervention lower limb compared with baseline conditions (p<0.05 and ES>0.6). Adductor only showed differences in β0 (p=0.01 and ES=0.92). The regressions models obtained showed that β0 and β1 had a direct relationship with age and muscle mass, but an inverse relationship with the number of series performed until 30% of fatigue (R2=0.8). In conclusion, fatigue strength exercise results in a lower skin temperature and a faster thermal increase after a cold stress test.

Highlights

Skin temperature is mainly the result of heat transfer from peripheral blood flow, core and environmental temperature to cutaneous surface, when there is not contact with other surfaces or convection currents (Ammer and Formenti, 2016)
As presented in table 2, lower β0 were found for vastus lateralis, rectus femoris and adductor in the intervention lower limb compared with baseline conditions
Higher β1 are showed for vastus lateralis and rectus femoris in the intervention lower limb when compared with baseline conditions; no differences in β1 were found for adductor

Summary

Introduction

Skin temperature is mainly the result of heat transfer from peripheral blood flow, core and environmental temperature to cutaneous surface, when there is not contact with other surfaces or convection currents (Ammer and Formenti, 2016) It can be measured by means of infrared thermography, a technique with several applications in the sports’ field (Hillen et al, 2020), such as preventing and treating injuries (Gómez-Carmona et al, 2020; Hadžić et al, 2019; Hildebrandt et al, 2010), detecting delayed onset muscle soreness (Al-Nakhli et al, 2012), assessing the effect of garments on skin temperature. Despite all the physiological information that ADTC can provide and its potential for assessing alterations of vascular function (Burkes et al, 2016; Carbonell et al, 2019; Zeng et al, 2016), its application in the sports’ field is still scarce (Jose Ignacio Priego-Quesada et al, 2020)

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