The influence of static and dynamic warm-up on knee temperature: infrared thermography insights before and after a change of direction exercise

Bruno Trovato; Martina Sortino; Luca Petrigna; Federico Roggio; Giuseppe Musumeci

doi:10.3389/fphys.2024.1393804

The influence of static and dynamic warm-up on knee temperature: infrared thermography insights before and after a change of direction exercise

Front Physiol. 2024 Aug 1:15:1393804. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1393804. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Bruno Trovato¹, Martina Sortino¹, Luca Petrigna¹, Federico Roggio¹, Giuseppe Musumeci^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Section of Anatomy, Histology and Movement Science, School of Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy.
² Research Center on Motor Activities (CRAM), University of Catania, Catania, Italy.
³ Department of Biology, Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, College of Science and Technology, Temple University, Philadelphia, United States.

Abstract

Introduction: Infrared thermography is gaining attention in the field of sports medicine and performance. This study investigated the effects of static and dynamic warm-ups and a 90° change of direction (COD) exercise on the thermal response of the knee.

Methods: Thermograms were collected using the FlIR E54 Imaging Camera from 85 healthy young adults, 46 men and 39 women, aged 20-31 years. The participants were divided in two groups, static and dynamic warm-up. Four thermograms were taken: baseline (T0), warm-up (T1), COD (T2), and rest (T3). Four regions of interest (ROIs) of the knee were analyzed: anterior upper half (AUH), anterior lower half (ALH), posterior upper half (PUH), and posterior lower half (PLH). Mixed ANOVA with the Bonferroni-Holm test and independent t-test were used for pairwise comparison and to spot differences between the right and left knees at T1 and T2 and at T0 between men and women, respectively.

Results: The mixed ANOVA was significant for time points (p< 0.001) in all the ROIs and for the stretching/temperature interaction with different levels of significance. The t-test results for the right and left knees at T1 and T2 were not significant. The temperature in the static warm-up group followed a decrease at T1, a subsequent decrease at T2, and a recovery similar to the baseline at T3, in the ALH in men and women and in the PUH only in men.

Conclusion: Static stretching was more suitable for preparing the knee for the COD exercise than the dynamic one in terms of the thermal response.

Keywords: exercise; infrared thermography; knee; stretching; thermoregulation; warm-up.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) (grant number: PRIN 2022PZH8SX).