Incrediwear Inc. wanted to identify and understand changes in muscular load and recovery in elite athletes who used semiconductor embedded leg sleeves following training sessions and overnight. They chose Myontec to validate the impact of technology in recovery.
Abstract
Twenty (20) subjects, six (6) professional hockey players and fourteen (14) professional football (soccer) players, were enrolled in a double blinded, placebo-controlled three arm study. Following informed consent, subjects were asked to perform a cycling or running test, then recover by sleeping overnight wearing Incrediwear leg sleeves, and then perform the same cycling or running test again the following day. Real-time and offline measurements were taken with surface electromyography (sEMG) to record muscular loading and recovery using the Myontec Ltd. EMG-embedded textile shorts. sEMG is a non-invasive technique used to measure and analyze the electrical activity of muscles. The sEMG shorts enable accurate, validated measurement of gluteal, hamstring and quadriceps muscle activity.
Conclusion
The subjects wearing the Incrediwear leg sleeves demonstrated improved recovery compared to placebo subjects and the subjects who did not receive any recovery garment. In hockey players (n=6), normalized improvement in recovery was 31.0% compared to -1.1% for subjects who received placebo sleeves and in football players (n=14), normalized improvement in recovery was 16.8% compared to 6.9% for subjects who received placebo sleeves. In the study, we observed reduced muscle load which is positively correlated with recovery. We hypothesize that the mechanism of improved recovery is the ability of Incrediwear to reduce inflammation and increase blood flow, which are proven aspects of the technology.
Sample data in football
Football Player 1 using Incrediwear sleeves
Reference warmup before VO2 max test Same warm up after overnight recovery
Yellow arrows show warmup period that was compared pre and post-recovery.
Muscle load changes from 93mA/min (reference after training) to 69 mA/min (recovery overnight).
Charts in lower right corner show loading on left quad, right quad, left hamstring, right hamstring, left glute, and right glute (moving from L to R).
Incrediwear technology
Incrediwear technology incorporates semiconductor nanoparticles into the fabric of wearable apparel, including leg sleeves. Their use to reduce pain, inflammation and improve recovery is widely acknowledged by athletes, coaches, doctors and clinicians who implement Incrediwear into their sports and medical practices around the world. See more at www.incrediwear.com
Myontec sEMG technology
Surface electromyography (sEMG) testing is valued for its diverse applications. Clinical applications include muscle function assessment, neuromuscular disorders, rehabilitation monitoring. Sports and performance applications include muscle activation patterns, biomechanical analysis, training optimization. Research applications include injury prediction and prevention, workload analysis, muscle physiology studies, movement analysis, injury prevention and ergonomics.
Myontec’s sEMG capability enables revolutionized real-time muscle data collection anywhere and anytime. The Myontec Mbody shorts are a validated sEMG system with the benefits of convenience, accuracy, and applicability to testing of athletes in strenuous settings. Technology is also validated for uses including evaluating muscle function, capacity, fatigue, force production, and to analyze activation patterns, biomechanics of movement, and to detect abnormalities or neuromuscular deviations by obtaining continuous biofeedback.
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