NC Research Campus, Kannapolis, NC. May 19, 2015- Researchers in exercise and sports science can put their biopsy needles away. The Appalachian State University Human Performance Laboratory at the NC Research Campus (NCRC) in Kannapolis validated the use of ultrasound technology to measure muscle glycogen.
An athlete’s glycogen level directly impacts their performance. “When you train intensely, the primary fuel is the glycogen in the muscle and when that is low you cannot push intensely,” explained David Nieman DrPH, FACSM, director of the Human Performance Laboratory and professor of health and exercise science in Appalachian’s College of Health Sciences.
Ultrasound is commonly used in exercise and sports science for real-time visualization of movement and to measure hydration and body fat. Nieman worked with MuscleSound® of Denver, Colorado to test their non-invasive portable, diagnostic high-frequency ultrasound and cloud-based software. The system works by scoring the difference in pixel intensity as muscle scans transition from darker to lighter reflecting glycogen use.
Nieman’s lab validated the MuscleSound® system by testing 20 cyclists who allowed ultrasound scans and muscle biopsies of their vastus lateralis muscle, which is part of the thigh, before and after completing a 75 km ride on a CompuTrainer Pro Model 8001. On average, the cyclists experienced a 77 percent decrease in their total glycogen content. Testing prior to the exercise showed whether the athletes had high or low glycogen levels at the beginning of the study. When the ultrasound scans and the analysis of the muscle biopsies were compared, the results correlated closely when measuring both the overall decrease in glycogen and starting and ending glycogen levels.
The study “Ultrasonic assessment of exercise-induced change in skeletal muscle glycogen content” was published in the journal BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation in April 2015.
Nieman predicts that the MuscleSound® system will help researchers and sports trainers who will be able to enhance the performance of their athletes through a diet that optimizes muscle glycogen. He expects to see more research on muscle groups like the deltoids in the shoulder that have not been studied as intensely as leg muscles.
Stephen Kurtz, CEO of MuscleSound, added,“Our participation in this study is a positive step forward in the complete understanding and optimization of glycogen within the human body. We are proud to be leaders in helping prevent injuries, improve performance and enhance nutrition. Working with App State, Dr. Nieman and his colleagues was an outstanding experience.
About David Nieman, DrPH, FACSM
David Nieman is a professor in the College of Health Sciences at Appalachian State University, and director of the Human Performance Lab at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, NC. Dr. Nieman is a pioneer in the research area of exercise immunology, and helped establish that 1) regular moderate exercise lowers upper respiratory tract infection rates while improving immunosurveillance, 2) heavy exertion increases infection rates while causing transient changes in immune function, and 3) that carbohydrate and flavonoid ingestion by athletes attenuates exercise-induced immune dysfunction. Dr. Nieman’s current work is centered on investigating unique nutritional products as countermeasures to exercise- and obesity-induced immune dysfunction, inflammation, illness, and oxidative stress (www.ncrc.appstate.edu). Dr. Nieman has received $8 million in research grants and published more than 320 peer-reviewed publications in journals and books, and sits on 10 journal editorial boards including the Journal of Applied Physiology and Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.
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