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Passive Strategies for the Prevention of Muscle Wasting During Recovery from Sports Injuries

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Abstract

Background

Recovery from sport injuries commonly involves a muscle disuse situation (i.e., reduction in physical activity levels sometimes preceded by joint immobilization) with subsequent negative effects on muscle mass and function.

Purpose

To summarize the current body of knowledge on the effectiveness of different physical strategies that are currently available to mitigate the negative effects of muscle disuse during recovery from sports injury.

Methods

A narrative review was conducted to summarize the information available on neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES), blood flow restriction (BFR) and vibration intervention.

Results

The concomitant application of BFR and low-intensity exercise has shown promising results in the prevention of disuse-induced muscle atrophy. Some benefits might also be obtained with BFR alone (i.e., with no exercise), but evidence is still inconclusive. NMES, which can be applied both passively and synchronously with exercise, can also attenuate most of the negative changes associated with disuse periods. In turn, the mechanical stimulus elicited by vibration seems effective to reduce the loss of bone mineral density that accompanies muscle disuse and could also provide some benefits at the muscle tissue level.

Conclusions

Different physical strategies are available to attenuate disuse-induced negative consequences during recovery from injury. These interventions can be applied passively, which makes them feasible during the first stages of the recovery. However, it would be advisable to apply these strategies in conjunction with low-intensity voluntary exercise as soon as this is feasible.

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Funding

This work is supported by the University of Alcalá (contract number FPI2016 to Valenzuela); the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (contract number FPU14/03435 to Morales); and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias and Fondos FEDER, grant numbers PI15/00558 and PI18/00139 to Lucia).

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  1. Pedro L. Valenzuela and Javier S. Morales contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physiology Unit, Department of Systems Biology, School of Medicine, University of Alcalá, Ctra. Barcelona, Km 33,600. Alcalá de Henares, 28871, Madrid, Spain

    Pedro L. Valenzuela

  2. Department of Sport and Health, Spanish Agency for Health Protection in Sport (AEPSAD), Madrid, Spain

    Pedro L. Valenzuela

  3. Faculty of Sport Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Javier S. Morales & Alejandro Lucia

  4. Research Institute of the Hospital, 12 de Octubre (“i + 12”), Madrid, Spain

    Alejandro Lucia

  5. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Fragilidad y Envejecimiento Saludable, Madrid, Spain

    Alejandro Lucia

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  1. Pedro L. Valenzuela
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Correspondence to Pedro L. Valenzuela.

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Valenzuela, P.L., Morales, J.S. & Lucia, A. Passive Strategies for the Prevention of Muscle Wasting During Recovery from Sports Injuries. J. of SCI. IN SPORT AND EXERCISE 1, 13–19 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42978-019-0008-5

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