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- Title
Six weeks of localized heat therapy does not affect muscle mass, strength and contractile properties in healthy active humans.
- Authors
Labidi, Mariem; Ihsan, Mohammed; Behan, Fearghal P.; Alhammoud, Marine; Smith, Tessa; Mohamed, Mohamed; Tourny, Claire; Racinais, Sébastien
- Abstract
<bold>Purpose: </bold>Animal and human studies have shown that repeated heating may induce skeletal muscle adaptations, increasing muscle strength. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of 6 weeks of localized heating on skeletal muscle strength, volume and contractile properties in healthy humans.<bold>Methods: </bold>Fifteen active participants (8 males/7 females, 35 ± 6 years, 70 ± 14 kg, 173 ± 7 cm, average training of 87 min per week) were subjected to 6 weeks of single-leg heat therapy. Heat pads were applied for 8 h/day, 5 days/week, on one randomly selected calf of each participant, while the contralateral leg acted as control. The heat pads increased muscle temperature by 4.6 ± 1.2 °C (p < 0.001). Every 2 weeks, participants were tested for morphological (MRI), architectural (ultrasound), contractile (electrically evoked twitch), and force (isometric and isokinetic) adaptations.<bold>Results: </bold>Repeated localized heating did not affect the cross-sectional area (p = 0.873) or pennation angle (p = 0.345) of the gastrocnemius muscles; did not change the evoked peak twitch amplitude (p = 0.574) or rate of torque development (p = 0.770) of the plantar flexors; and did not change maximal voluntary isometric (p = 0.214) or isokinetic (p = 0.973) plantar flexor torque.<bold>Conclusion: </bold>Whereas previous studies have observed improved skeletal muscle function following whole-body and localized heating in active and immobilized humans, respectively, the current data suggested that localized heating may not be a potent stimulus for muscle adaptations in active humans.
- Subjects
THERMOTHERAPY; MUSCLE mass; SKELETAL muscle; MUSCLE strength; HUMAN beings; SKELETAL muscle physiology; LEG physiology; HEAT; TORQUE; MUSCLE contraction; PHYSIOLOGICAL adaptation; ELECTROMYOGRAPHY; KINEMATICS; PHYSIOLOGY
- Publication
European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2021, Vol 121, Issue 2, p573
- ISSN
1439-6319
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1007/s00421-020-04545-9