Tensiomyographic Markers Are Not Sensitive for Monitoring Muscle Fatigue in Elite Youth Athletes: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Objective: Tensiomyography (TMG) is an indirect measure of a muscle's contractile properties and has the potential as a technique for detecting exercise-induced skeletal muscle fatigue. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the sensitivity of tensiomyographic markers to identify reduced muscular performance in elite youth athletes.Methods: Fourteen male junior tennis players (age: 14.9 ± 1.2 years) with an international (International Tennis Federation) ranking position participated in this pre-post single group trial. They completed a 4-day high-intensity interval training (HIT) microcycle, which was composed of seven training sessions. TMG markers; countermovement jump (CMJ) performance (criterion measure of fatigue); delayed onset muscle soreness; and perceived recovery and stress were measured 24 h before and after the training program. The TMG measures included maximal radial deformation of the rectus femoris muscle belly (Dm), contraction time between 10 and 90% Dm (Tc) and the rate of deformation until 10% (V10) and 90% Dm (V90), respectively. Diagnostic characteristics were assessed with a receiver-operating curve (ROC) analysis and a contingency table, in which the area under the curve (AUC), Youden's index, sensitivity, specificity, and the diagnostic effectiveness (DE) of TMG measures were reported. A minimum AUC of 0.70 and a lower confidence interval (CI) >0.50 classified “good” diagnostic markers to assess performance changes.Results: Twenty-four hours after the microcycle, CMJ performance was observed to be significantly (p < 0.001) reduced (Effect Size [ES] = −0.68), and DOMS (ES = 3.62) as well as perceived stress were significantly (p < 0.001) increased. In contrast, Dm (ES = −0.35), Tc (ES = 0.04), V10 (ES = −0.32), and V90 (ES = −0.33) remained unchanged (p > 0.05) throughout the study. ROC analysis and the data derived from the contingency table revealed that none of the tensiomyographic markers were effective diagnostic tools for detecting impaired muscular performance in elite youth athletes (AUC, 95% CI, DE%; Dm: 0.46, 0.15–0.77, 35.7%; Tc: 0.29, 0.03–0.59, 35.7%; V10: 0.71, 0.27–1.00, 35.7%; V90: 0.37, 0.10–0.65, 35.7%).Conclusion: The tensiomyographic parameters that were assessed in this study were not sensitive enough to detect muscular performance changes in elite youth athletes.However, due to the preliminary nature of the study, further research is needed to investigate the sensitivity of TMG in this population.

Active Recovery After High-Intensity Interval-Training Does Not Attenuate Training Adaptation

“…In addition, the training program resulted in an accumulation of OS during the 4-week mesocycle. This is in line with several studies that have demonstrated the exhaustive nature of short-term intensified training cycles ( Billat et al, 1999 ; Halson et al, 2002 ; Wiewelhove et al, 2015 , 2017a ). Interestingly, there was no difference in the increase of OS over time between intervention groups ( Figure 3 ), which is also in agreement with previous research ( Wiewelhove et al, 2016b ) and emphasizes that ACT seems to be neither beneficial nor detrimental to the recovery process.…”

Acute muscle fatigue and CPR quality assisted by visual feedback devices: a randomizedcrossover simulation trial

“…The present data also show that the Tc for rectus abdominis and triceps brachii was longer than 30ms, indicating they are highly resistant to fatigue and with a high prevalence of slow-twitch fibres [17]. This data may have important implications to design potential muscle-training programs for CPR professionals.…”

Assessment of Skeletal Muscle Contractile Properties by Radial Displacement: The Case for Tensiomyography

“…Interestingly, of the seven studies inducing general fatigue, four reported a decrease in Dm, [ 70 , 83 ] two showed an increase in Dm, [ 46 , 82 ] whilst the other showed no change [ 86 ]. It has to be noted though that Raeder et al [ 83 ] Wiewelhove et al [ 70 ] de Paula Simola et al [ 54 ] and de Paula Simola et al [ 69 ] all used variations of high-intensity resistance or endurance training, or interval training, over short periods of time.…”