Effect of compression garments on muscle perfusion in delayed‐onset muscle soreness: A quantitative analysis using intravoxel incoherent motion MR perfusion imaging

Abstract

The aim of this prospective cohort study was to evaluate the effect of compression garments under resting conditions and after the induction of delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) by MR perfusion imaging using intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM). Magnetic resonance imaging of both lower legs of 16 volunteers was performed before and after standardized eccentric exercises that induced DOMS. A compression garment (21-22 mmHg) was worn during and for 6 h after exercise on one randomly selected leg. IVIM MR imaging, represented as total muscle perfusion D*f, perfusion fraction f and tissue diffusivity D, were compared between baseline and directly, 30 min, 6 h and 48 h after exhausting exercise with and without compression. Creatine kinase levels and T2-weighted images were acquired at baseline and after 48 h. DOMS was induced in the medial head of the gastrocnemius muscle (MGM) in all volunteers. Compression garments did not show any significant effect on IVIM perfusion parameters at any time point in the MGM or the tibialis anterior muscle (p > 0.05). Microvascular perfusion in the MGM increased significantly in both the compressed and noncompressed leg between baseline measurements and those taken directly after and 30 min after the exercise: the relative median f increased by 31.5% and 24.7% in the compressed and noncompressed leg, respectively, directly after the exercise compared with the baseline value. No significant change in tissue perfusion occurred 48 h after the induction of DOMS compared with baseline. It was concluded that compression garments (21-22 mmHg) do not alter microvascular muscle perfusion at rest, nor do they have any significant Abbreviations used: C, compressed; CK, creatine kinase; DOMS, delayed-onset muscle soreness; EIMD, exercise-induced muscle damage; IFCC, International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine; IVIM, intravoxel incoherent motion; MGM, medial head of the gastrocnemius muscle; NC, noncompressed; NEX, number of excitations; ROI, region of interest; SPAIR, spectral attenuated inversion recovery; TA, tibialis anterior muscle; TE, echo time; TIRM, turbo inversion recovery magnitude; TR, repetition time.

Intravoxel Incoherent Motion Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Skeletal Muscle: Review and Future Directions

“…57 Riexinger et al reported significant elevations of f and D immediately following exhaustive plyometric and eccentric exercise in the gastrocnemius muscle. 84 The perfusion fraction returned to the relative baseline at the 6-hour postexercise imaging session, while D remained elevated from the pre-exercise baseline for at least 48 hours. D* was not independently reported.…”

“…In addition, several studies varied the number of averages depending on whether data were acquired at rest or following exercise, 55,77 or as a function of b-value. 67,68,73,84,85 Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was not often reported and may be important to place these in vivo results in context. 77 FITTING METHOD AND B-VALUES.…”

“…Almost all studies applied diffusion-encoding gradients along the three principal axes. A few notable exceptions: Yao and Sinha applied diffusion encoding gradients on all three axes simultaneously, which rather than imparting trace weighting, will sensitize the data to motion along some single arbitrary direction, 52 and Adelnia et al 77 and Riexinger et al 84 both applied diffusion encoding gradients along the slice-selection direction only. As seen in Table 1, both Adelnia et al and Riexinger et al's reported coefficients were higher than others, possibly due to the relative alignment of the capillaries, muscle fibers, and diffusion sensitizing direction.…”

Muscle perfusion and the effect of compression garments in delayed-onset muscle soreness assessed with arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging

“…Further, compression garments (21-22 mmHg) did not alter microvascular muscle perfusion at rest, nor did they have any significant effect during the regeneration phase of DOMS (13). IVIM comes along with several technical limitations and the results may be contradictory to the known inflammatory and immune responses in the context of DOMS, which start immediately after training and occur over several days (6,13).…”

IVIM Imaging of Paraspinal Muscles Following Moderate and High-Intensity Exercise in Healthy Individuals

“…Prior studies have demonstrated the ability of IVIM to detect blood flow-related changes in muscle following exercise in muscles of the upper (18)(19)(20)(21) and lower extremities (22)(23)(24)(25), and back (26,27). Each of these studies measured the IVIM response to a single, high-intensity exercise stimulus, likely eliciting a maximal hyperemic response.…”