Preliminary Application of Infrared Thermography to Monitoring of Skin Temperature Asymmetries in Professional Padel Players

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to evaluate skin temperature (Tsk) asymmetries, using infrared thermography, in professional padel players before (PRE), after (POST) and 10 min after training (POST10), and their relationship with perceptual variables and training characteristics. Thermal images were taken of 10 players before, after and 10 min after a standardized technical training. After training, Tsk of the dominant side was higher than before training in the anterior forearm (30.8 ± 0.4 °C vs. 29.1 ± 1.2 °C, p p p p p p < 0.01). In conclusion, infrared thermography allows monitoring of skin asymmetries between limbs in professional padel players, but these asymmetries were not related to overall fatigue variation, overall pain variation, years of experience and training hours.

Keywords

• thermal imbalance
• thermal images
• racquet sports
• paddle tennis