The Behavior of Muscle Oxygen Saturation, Oxy and Deoxy Hemoglobin during a Fatigue Test in Fibromyalgia, 2023, Villafaina

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The Behavior of Muscle Oxygen Saturation, Oxy and Deoxy Hemoglobin during a Fatigue Test in Fibromyalgia
by
Santos Villafaina
1,
Pablo Tomas-Carus Tomas-Carus
2,3,
Vanda Silva
4,
Ana Rodrigues Costa
5,
Orlando Fernandes
5 and
Jose A. Parraca
2,3,*


1
Facultad de Ciencias del Deporte, Universidad de Extremadura, 10003 Cáceres, Spain
2
Departamento de Desporto e Saúde, Escola de Saúde e Desenvolvimento Humano, Universidade de Évora, 7004-516 Évora, Portugal
3
Comprehensive Health Research Centre (CHRC), University of Évora, 7004-516 Évora, Portugal
4
Family Health Unit—Lusitania, Rua do Ferragial do Poço Novo, S/N, 7000-727 Évora, Portugal
5
Departamento de Ciências Médicas e da Saúde, Escola de Saúde e Desenvolvimento Humano, Universidade de Évora, 7004-516 Évora, Portugal
*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Biomedicines 2023, 11(1), 132; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11010132

Received: 5 November 2022 / Revised: 31 December 2022 / Accepted: 4 January 2023 / Published: 4 January 2023

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research on Fibromyalgia)


Abstract

Previous studies have reported that people with fibromyalgia (FM) could suffer from mitochondrial dysfunction.

However, the consumption of muscle oxygen during physical exercise has been poorly studied.

Therefore, this study aimed to explore the response of muscle oxygen during a fatigue protocol in people with FM and healthy controls (HC).

In addition, the peak torque and the total work were assessed.

A total of 31 participants (eighteen were people with fibromyalgia and thirteen were healthy controls) were enrolled in this cross-sectional study.

All the participants underwent a fatigue protocol consisting of 20 repetitions at 180°·s−1 of quadriceps flexions and extensions using a Biodex System 3.

The muscle oxygen saturation (SmO2), total hemoglobin (THb), deoxygenated hemoglobin (HHb) and oxygenated hemoglobin (O2Hb) values were measured using a portable near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) device.

Significant differences between people with FM and healthy controls were found at baseline: SmO2 (FM: 56.03 ± 21.36; HC: 77.41 ± 10.82; p = 0.036), O2Hb (FM: 6.69 ± 2.59; HC: 9.37 ± 1.31; p = 0.030) and HHb (FM: 5.20 ± 2.51; HC: 2.73 ± 1.32; p = 0.039); during the fatigue protocol: SmO2 (FM: 48.54 ± 19.96; HC: 58.87 ± 19.72; p = 0.038), O2Hb (FM: 5.70 ± 2.34; HC: 7.06 ± 2.09; p = 0.027) and HHb (FM: 5.69 ± 2.65; HC: 4.81 ± 2.39; p = 0.048); and in the recovery at three min and six min for SmO2, O2Hb and HHb (p < 0.005).

Furthermore, healthy control values of SmO2, O2Hb and HHb have been significantly altered by the fatigue protocol (p < 0.005).

In contrast, people with FM did not show any significant alteration in these values.

Moreover, significant differences were found in the peak torque at extension (FM: 62.48 ± 24.45; HC: 88.31 ± 23.51; p = 0.033) and flexion (FM: 24.16 ± 11.58; HC: 42.05 ± 9.85; p = 0.010), and the total work performed at leg extension (FM: 1039.78 ± 434.51; HC: 1535.61 ± 474.22; p = 0.007) and flexion (FM: 423.79 ± 239.89; HC: 797.16 ± 194.37; p = 0.005).

Keywords: strength; mitochondrial; autonomic modulation; physical exercise; fatigue

MDPI and ACS Style
Villafaina, S.; Tomas-Carus, P.T.-C.; Silva, V.; Costa, A.R.; Fernandes, O.; Parraca, J.A. The Behavior of Muscle Oxygen Saturation, Oxy and Deoxy Hemoglobin during a Fatigue Test in Fibromyalgia. Biomedicines 2023, 11, 132. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11010132

 

Please allow me my daily dose of sarcasm.

Can anyone point out to me why these authors did not measure catastrophization in this instance? Are they out of their minds? The insurance companies won't like this much.

 

I agree with you Trish, I don't understand it either and the paper seems to be very careful in trying to find any explanation- instead they have spent time describing their experiment. It is fascinating to me.

 

Dreadful abstract: Full paper Conclusion:

"5. Conclusions
Healthy controls showed an alteration in the values of SmO2, O2Hb and HHb before, during and after the fatigue protocol, whereas people with FM did not show any significant alteration. In addition, people with FM showed lower peak torque and total work performed at leg flexion and extension than healthy controls. These findings could suggest that people with FM had a significant impairment in the consumption of muscle oxygen."

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An obvious comparison problem between patients and controls - patients were older (51 versus 40 years) and had a substantially higher BMI (31.5 versus 22.6)