The Effect of Fatigue and Biofreeze® on the Biomechanics of Running

Plain-language summary

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) can be identified as the muscular pain that occurs due to intense use of skeletal muscle through exercise or other activities performed intense enough or long enough to cause minor damage(Cheung et al., 2003). DOMS usually begins to show symptoms 24 hours post-activity, becomes most intense 48-72 hours post-activity and can sometimes last up to 5-10 days in ordinary cases(Cheung et al., 2003; Dutto and Braun 2004). Typical less severe cases still can cause an individual to alter proper movement mechanics - this alteration in mechanics can lead to the further injuring of the involved or compensating skeletal muscle tissues and the associated joints and skeletal structures. DOMS-related muscular pain can lead to functional deficits and altered movement mechanics that can lead to a greater risk of further injury or sources of pain. The body does this by trying to avoid the initial source of pain by adopting some form of compensation (such as a limp when walking) which may help reduce pain at the initial source but lead to another source of pain or risk injury at another joint or limb. DOMS is a common complaint of many runners from novice to expert and due to the increased forces in running, a compensatory pattern in walking is exaggerated in running and can affect the compensating structures to an even greater extent, further increasing the risk of injury. Biofreeze®, a topical analgesic, is used to block the pain signal from the affected structures to the brain when applied to muscles experiencing delayed onset muscle soreness. Blocking the pain signal from DOMS should allow an individual to restore their natural movement mechanics. The purpose of this study is to assess the interaction between Biofreeze® and delayed onset muscle soreness and how it affects movement mechanics and muscle function. Hypothesis: The application of a topical analgesic (Biofreeze®) on muscles experiencing delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) will increase force production and return running biomechanics to pre-DOMS values.

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