Knee Proprioception after Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether exercise-induced quadriceps muscle damage affects knee proprioception such as joint position sense (JPS), force sense and the threshold to detect passive movement (TTDPM). Fourteen young men performed sets of eccentric quadriceps contractions at a target of 60% of the maximal concentric peak torque until exhaustion; the exercise was interrupted whenever the subject could not complete two sets. Muscle soreness, JPS, the TTDPM and force sense were examined before the exercise as well as one, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h after exercise. The results were compared using one-way repeated-measure ANOVA. Plasma CK activity, collected at the same times, was analyzed by the Friedman's test to discriminate differences between baseline values and each of the other assessment moments (p < 0.05). Relative to the proprioception assessment, JPS at 30 and 70 degrees of knee flexion and force sense were significantly decreased up to 48 h, whereas TTDPM decreased significantly at only one hour and 24 h after exercise, at 30 and 70 degrees of the knee flexion, respectively. The results allow the conclusion that eccentric exercise leading to muscle damage alters joint proprioception, suggesting that there might be impairment in the intrafusal fibres of spindle muscles and in the tendon organs.