Date of Award

5-2024

Degree Type

Creative Project

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Kinesiology and Health Science

Committee Chair(s)

Brennan J. Thompson

Committee

Brennan J. Thompson

Committee

Talin Louder

Committee

Jon Carey

Abstract

Background: Fatigue monitoring is an important aspect for athletic coaches to monitor the level of readiness of an athlete. Monitoring of an athlete’s fatigue status helps identify the need to adjust one’s training program, identify injury risk, and help attain an athlete’s peak performance when it is most advantageous for them. More research is warranted that examines the effects of a comprehensive set of jump parameters to track recovery from muscle impairing exercise. This study focused on the onset of muscle soreness through eccentric resistance exercise. Purpose: The purpose of this project was to examine the efficacy of force plate GRF-derived data from depth jump (DJ), and peak force (PF) by maximum voluntary isometric contraction tests as a means to track neuromuscular recovery following a bout of eccentric exercise. A secondary aim was to evaluate soreness markers during the recovery phase. Methods: Thirty college aged, recreationally active students participated in this study. This study was a repeated measures design where each subject participated in 5 visits including a familiarization visit, an experimental visit (when the eccentric exercise was performed), and three follow up visits. The second visit included subjects performing the eccentric exercise intervention where they performed a 3 minute workout at 50% intensity. Testing including maximal voluntary isometric contractions MVICs and was done at pre- and post-exercise as well as 24, 48, and 96 h following the exercise session. Testing involved MVICs on the dynamometer (to determine peak force; PF), followed by DJ tests. Also, each subject was asked to complete a visual analog scale (VAS) to determine soreness upon arrival of each visit. All post intervention visits were identical in format except they did not do the exercise intervention. Results: There were no changes in DJ GRF variables nor PF, but there was a significant difference in soreness across the visits, suggesting that the eccentric exercise intervention on the Eccentron succeeded in inducing muscle damage. Conclusion: Data from this study suggest that despite participants experiencing significant soreness in the period that followed the eccentric protocol, there were no changes in ground reaction force parameters from a DJ performance nor in PF variables. Greater impairments to force generating capacities than what were found herein are required from an eccentric exercise intervention to determine whether DJ measures can adequately monitor fatigue characteristics.

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