UNASSIGNED: Oral contraceptives (OCs) manipulate hormonal fluctuations of the menstrual cycle and affect physical performance. Most investigations on the effect of OCs on physical performance did not discriminate between different types of OCs. Thus, the effects of monophasic OCs (MOCs) - the most common type of OCs - on muscle strength and recovery from exercise are largely unknown.
UNASSIGNED: To examine the effect of MOC use on muscle strength and markers of recovery after exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) in premenopausal women.
UNASSIGNED: Electronic databases Embase, PubMed, SportDiscus, and Web of Science were searched for studies examining the effect of MOCs on acute muscle strength and recovery.
UNASSIGNED: Keywords applied for the study selection were oral contraceptive* AND muscle strength or oral contraceptive* AND muscle damage.
UNASSIGNED: Systematic review.
UNASSIGNED: Lowest quality assessed for an included study in this review was serious risk of bias using ROBINS-I tool made from Cochrane for nonrandomized studies.
UNASSIGNED: A total of 104 studies on muscle strength were identified, of which 11 met the inclusion criteria. Concerning recovery, 51 studies were identified, of which 4 met the inclusion criteria.
UNASSIGNED: Of the 11 studies included, 10 showed no effect of MOCs on acute muscle strength. Of the 4 studies on recovery, 2 found a greater decrease in muscle strength, and 3 found higher creatine kinase (CK) levels after EIMD in MOC users than in nonusers. The included studies were all rated with moderate-to-serious risk of bias.
UNASSIGNED: These findings suggest that MOCs may impair recovery from EIMD as indicated by lowered muscle strength and elevated CK levels. There is insufficient evidence to conclude whether MOCs acutely affect muscle strength. Moderate-to-serious risk of bias in studies makes interpretation challenging.

The purpose of this study is to compare the effect of photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) and cryotherapy (CRT) on muscle recovery outcomes. These searches were performed in PubMed, PEDro, CENTRAL, and VHL (which includes the Lilacs, Medline, and SciELO database) from inception to June 2021. We included randomized clinical trials involved healthy human volunteers (> 18 years) underwent an intervention of PBMT and CRT, when used in both isolated form post-exercise. Standardized mean differences (SMD) or mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence interval were calculated and pooled in a meta-analysis for synthesis. The risk of bias and quality of evidence were assessed through Cochrane risk-of-bias tool and GRADE system. Four articles (66 participants) with a high to low risk of bias were included. The certainty of evidence was classified as moderate to very low. PBMT was estimated to improve the muscle strength (SMD = 1.73, CI 95% 1.33 to 2.13, I2 = 27%, p < 0.00001), reduce delayed onset muscle soreness (MD: - 25.69%, CI 95% - 34.42 to - 16.97, I2 = 89%, p < 0.00001), and lower the concentration of biomarkers of muscle damage (SMD =  - 1.48, CI 95% - 1.93 to - 1.03, I2 = 76%, p < 0,00,001) when compared with CRT. There was no difference in oxidative stress and inflammatory levels. Based on our findings, the use of PBMT in muscle recovery after high-intensity exercise appears to be beneficial, provides a clinically important effect, and seems to be the best option when compared to CRT.

Exercise-induced muscular damage (EIMD) is a well-known phenomenon in exercise medicine that is closely related to the type and intensity of training, with especially eccentric training content providing various physiological irritations, including mechanical as well as metabolic. Besides the increase in markers of muscular damage, such as creatine kinase (CK) and myoglobin (Mb), several physiological shifts trigger a kind of stepwise repair chain reactions lasting over a time course from several hours to days. Subsequent inflammatory processes are closely related to muscular damage with decisive influence on physiological repair mechanisms, as indicated by an increased invasion of immune cells and typical patterns of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Previously, whole-body electromyostimulation (WB-EMS) showed significant, partly extreme distractions in markers of muscular damage lasting over several days. Because of the large area of stimulated muscle mass and a relatively high proportion of eccentric movements, initially too intense WB-EMS is predisposed to produce serious changes on several physiological levels due to its unfamiliar muscular strain. Therefore, it is the aim of this short review to focus on the possible immunological side effects of this aspiring training technology. As the number of original investigations in this field is rather small, we will include data from other studies about the relation of exercise-induced muscle damage and immune regulation.

The aim of this study was to systematically review the literature on acupuncture for delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and report upon study quality and treatment outcomes.
Systematic review.
Searches were conducted in the following electronic databases from their inception to 31 March 2018: CINAHL, MEDLINE, Allied and Complementary Medicine (AMED) and SPORTDiscus. Reference lists of all included studies and relevant reviews were hand-searched for additional studies.
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated the effectiveness of acupuncture in DOMS in adults measuring the pre-specified primary outcome (pain) were included.
Data were extracted using pre-defined extraction forms and the Standards for Reporting Interventions in Clinical Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA) checklist. Quality of studies was evaluated based on the Cochrane risk of bias assessment.
Five RCTs investigating laboratory-induced DOMS in the upper limbs with a total sample size of 182 healthy participants were included. Of the included studies, three reported superiority of acupuncture over no treatment in DOMS pain reduction as measured by visual analogue scale, pressure pain threshold or electrical pain threshold, while two studies yielded non-significant results. All studies demonstrated risk of bias in one or more areas, commonly lack of blinding of participants and personnel.
There is conflicting to limited evidence to support the effects of acupuncture on the relief of pain associated with DOMS. The findings were confounded by methodological limitations and reporting insufficiency. More rigorous, high-quality, and well-reported RCTs are required to further evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture for DOMS.

Amino acids and more precisely, branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), are usually consumed as nutritional supplements by many athletes and people involved in regular and moderate physical activities regardless of their practice level. BCAAs have been initially shown to increase muscle mass and have also been implicated in the limitation of structural and metabolic alterations associated with exercise damage. This systematic review provides a comprehensive analysis of the literature regarding the beneficial effects of BCAAs supplementation within the context of exercise-induced muscle damage or muscle injury. The potential benefit of a BCAAs supplementation was also analyzed according to the supplementation strategy-amount of BCAAs, frequency and duration of the supplementation-and the extent of muscle damage. The review protocol was registered prospectively with Prospective Register for Systematic Reviews (registration number CRD42017073006) and followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Literature search was performed from the date of commencement until August 2017 using four online databases (Medline, Cochrane library, Web of science and ScienceDirect). Original research articles: (i) written in English; (ii) describing experiments performed in Humans who received at least one oral BCAAs supplementation composed of leucine, isoleucine and valine mixture only as a nutritional strategy and (iii) reporting a follow-up of at least one day after exercise-induced muscle damage, were included in the systematic review analysis. Quality assessment was undertaken independently using the Quality Criteria Checklist for Primary Research. Changes in indirect markers of muscle damage were considered as primary outcome measures. Secondary outcome measures were the extent of change in indirect markers of muscle damage. In total, 11 studies were included in the analysis. A high heterogeneity was found regarding the different outcomes of these studies. The risk of bias was moderate considering the quality ratings were positive for six and neutral for three. Although a small number of studies were included, BCAAs supplementation can be efficacious on outcomes of exercise-induced muscle damage, as long as the extent of muscle damage was low-to-moderate, the supplementation strategy combined a high daily BCAAs intake (>200 mg kg-1 day-1) for a long period of time (>10 days); it was especially effective if taken prior to the damaging exercise.

Although, beneficial in determined contexts, eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) might be unwanted during training regimens, competitions and daily activities. There are a vast number of studies investigating strategies to attenuate EIMD response after damaging exercise bouts. Many of them consist of performing exercises that induce EIMD, consuming supplements or using equipment that are not accessible for most people. It appears that performing maximal isometric contractions (ISOs) 2-4 days prior to damaging bouts promotes significant attenuation of EIMD symptoms that are not related to muscle function. It has been shown that the volume of ISOs, muscle length in which they are performed, and interval between them and the damaging bout influence the magnitude of this protection. In addition, it appears that this protection is not long-lived, lasting no longer than 4 days. Although no particular mechanisms for these adaptations were identified, professionals should consider applying this non-damaging stimulus before submitting their patients to unaccustomed exercised. However, it seems not to be the best option for athletes or relatively trained individuals. Future, studies should focus on establishing if ISOs protect other populations (i.e., trained individuals) or muscle groups (i.e., knee extensors) against EIMD, as well as investigate different mechanisms for ISO-induced protection.

Muscle damage is induced by both high-intensity resistance and endurance exercise. Creatine is a widely used dietary supplement to improve exercise performance by reducing exercise-induced muscle damage. Many researchers have suggested that taking creatine reduces muscle damage by decreasing the inflammatory response and oxidative stress, regulating calcium homeostasis, and activating satellite cells. However, the underlying mechanisms of creatine and muscle damage have not been clarified. Therefore, this review discusses the regulatory effects of creatine on muscle damage by compiling the information collected from basic science and sports science research.