Name: LEONARDO CARVALHO CALDAS
Type: PhD thesis
Publication date: 20/12/2022
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| LUCAS GUIMARÃES FERREIRA | Advisor * |
| VALERIO GARRONE BARAUNA | Co-advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| ADRIANO FORTES MAIA | Internal Examiner * |
| FABIANO KENJI HARAGUCHI | External Examiner * |
| LUCAS GUIMARÃES FERREIRA | Advisor * |
| VALERIO GARRONE BARAUNA | Co advisor * |
Summary: Caffeine consumption to improve exercise performance is already well established in the literature, with observations of the ergogenic effect in long-term aerobic exercises, strength exercises, muscular endurance and power. Recently, some studies suggest that caffeine supplementation could also be used as a nutritional strategy to help recover from exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD). EIMD is a common phenomenon when performing an unusual or strenuous exercise, characterized by physical damage to muscle fibers at the macro and microstructural level, involving sarcomeres, cell membrane and connective tissue. Different types of contraction can induce damage, but eccentric contractions and factors such as greater exercise intensity, contraction speed and greater range of motion during exercise contribute to intensify the magnitude of muscle damage. It is common that after muscle damage, symptoms such as temporary decrease in force production capacity, reduced range of motion, swelling of the affected limb, increased stiffness and delayed onset muscle soreness. Previous studies have already shown that caffeine intake contributed to the attenuation of delayed onset muscle soreness, loss of strength and reduction of circulating levels of blood markers of muscle damage. However, the evidence is not conclusive and the beneficial effects of caffeine intake on EIMD are not always observed. Differences between studies may be related to several possible factors, such as timing of supplementation (pre- or post-event causing muscle damage), duration of supplementation protocol (e.g., acute versus chronic), and methods used to assess muscle damage. (e.g. pain perception, loss of strength and blood markers of damage). Several studies have investigated the effect of caffeine using only one indirect marker of muscle damage, although it is unclear whether caffeine has a direct effect on each of these markers or whether there is an interaction between them. For example, would the decrease in pain perception with caffeine supplementation also be related to lower loss of strength and circulating levels of creatine kinase after EIMD? Or do these effects happen independently? The thesis is presented in the Scandinavian model, that is, in the format of two articles containing the following structures: Introduction, material and methods, results, discussion and conclusion. For the first study, a systematic review was performed investigating the role of caffeine in muscle damage and how different supplementation protocols interfere with the attenuation of muscle damage. The second study evaluated the effect of caffeine supplementation on upper limb exercises. The main results were that caffeine supplementation after eccentric exercise helps in attenuating delayed onset muscle soreness. It is possible that supplementation contributes to the recovery of muscle strength, but the results are not conclusive and factors such as type of exercise, assessed muscle group and history of caffeine consumption may contribute to the uncertainty of the results.
Keywords: Ergogenic; recovery; eccentric contractions; muscle damage; delayed onset muscle pain.
