Effects of Far‐Infrared Emitting Ceramic Material Clothing on Recovery After Maximal Eccentric Exercise

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether Far-Infrared Emitting Ceramic Materials worn as Bioceramic pants would improve neuromuscular performance, biochemical and perceptual markers in healthy individuals after maximal eccentric exercise. Twenty-two moderately active men were randomized into Bioceramic (n = 11) or Placebo (n = 11) groups. To induce muscle damage, three sets of 30 maximal isokinetic eccentric contractions of the quadriceps were performed at 60°·s-1. Participants wore the bioceramic or placebo pants for 2 hours immediately following the protocol, and then again for 2 hours prior to each subsequent testing session at 24, 48 and 72 hours post. Plasma creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase activity, delayed-onset muscle soreness, perceived recovery status, and maximal voluntary contraction were measured pre-exercise and 2, 24, 48, and 72 hours post-exercise. Eccentric exercise induced muscle damage as evident in significant increases in delayed-onset muscle soreness at 24 - 72 hours (p < 0.05) and creatine kinase between Pre to 2, 24, 48 and 72 hours (p < 0.05). Despite the increased delayed-onset muscle soreness and creatine kinase values, no effect of Bioceramic was evident (p > 0.05). Furthermore, decreases in maximal voluntary contraction between Pre and immediately, 2, 24, 48 and 72 hours post (p < 0.05) were reported. However, the standardized difference was moderate lower for lactate dehydrogenase at 24 h (ES = 0.50), but higher at 48 h (ES = -0.58) in the Bioceramic compared to the Placebo group. Despite inducing muscle damage, the daily use of Far-Infrared Emitting Ceramic Materials clothing over 72 hours did not facilitate recovery after maximal eccentric exercise.

Utilisation of far infrared-emitting garments for optimising performance and recovery in sport: Real potential or new fad? A systematic review

“…A total of eleven studies were ultimately identified and included in this review (Table 1). Thereafter, selected studies were classified into two different categories according to their experimental design: six studies investigated the 'effects of FIR-emitting garments worn during exercise' [16,[30][31][32][33][34], and five studies investigated the 'effects of FIR-emitting garments worn post-exercise' [35][36][37][38][39].…”

“…All the studies had samples sizes of five to twenty participants, with only males [30,31,34] or a mixture of female and male participants [16,32,33]. In the studies testing FIR-emitting garments post-exercise, participants were recreationally active [36][37][38] or elite male athletes [35,39], and their age ranged from 19 to 26 years except in one study where the participants were > 60 years old [37]. Sample sizes ranged from 14 to 22 participants.…”

“…Nine of the eleven studies used an acute exercise modality [16,[30][31][32][33][34][35]37,38], and two studies used consecutive bouts of exercise (i.e. two sessions per day separated by 3 to 4 hours over one day to 2 weeks) [36,39].…”

“…In ten studies, FIR-emitting garments were applied on the lower body (i.e. feet, thigh, calves or whole leg covered) [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39], in seven studies it was on the upper body (i.e. arm, forearm, trunk or all covered simultaneously) [16,[30][31][32][33][34]36], and in six studies garments covered both the lower and upper body simultaneously [30][31][32][33][34]36].…”

“…In studies testing the garments during exercise, the garments were applied on the lower and upper body [30][31][32][33][34] except in one study using only a FIR-emitting t-shirt [16]. In contrast, in studies testing the garments post-exercise, only the lower limbs were covered [35,[37][38][39] except in one study using the garments on both the lower and upper body [36]. Garments were t-shirts (4 studies; [16,30,33,34]), long sleeved shirts (3 studies; [31,32,36]), shorts (2 studies; [33,34]), trousers (7 studies; [30][31][32]35,36,38,39]) and shin guards or PLOS ONE [34,37]).…”