Acute responses and recovery in the femoral cartilage morphology following running and cool-down protocols

Abstract

This study compared the immediate effects of two common post-exercise cool-down methods to a control condition on subsequent morphologic change in femoral cartilage and vascular response in the posterior tibial artery after running. Sixteen healthy young males (23.6 ± 2.2 years, 172.8 ± 4.9 cm, 72.2 ± 7.1 kg) visited the laboratory during three separate sessions and performed 30-min of treadmill running (7.5 km/h for the initial 5-min, followed 8.5 km/h for 25-min). After running, participants experienced one of three 30-min cool-down protocols: active cool-down, cold application, or control (seated rest with their knee fully extended), in a counterbalanced order. Ultrasonographic assessments of femoral cartilage thickness (intercondylar, lateral, and medial) and posterior tibial artery blood flow were compared. To test condition effects over time, two-way analysis of variances and Tukey tests were used (p 3.24, p 10.31, p < 0.0001 for all tests), femoral cartilage thickness was decreased after running (intercondylar: p < 0.0001, ES = 1.37; lateral: p < 0.0001, ES = 1.58; medial: p < 0.0001, ES = 0.81) and returned to baseline levels within 40-min (intercondylar: p = 0.09; lateral: p = 0.64; medial: p = 0.26). Blood flow volume was different (condition × time: F30,705 = 2.36, p < 0.0001) that running-induced blood flow volume was maintained for 30-min for the active cool-down condition (p < 0.0001, ES = 1.64), whereas it returned to baseline levels within 10-min for other conditions (cold application: p = 0.67; control: p = 0.62). Neither blood flow nor temperature had a significant impact on the recovery in femoral cartilage after running.

Keywords

• Ultrasonography
• Cartilage deformation
• Blood flow volume
• Treadmill exercise