Effects of Hydration Changes on Neuromuscular Function of Athletes

NCT05380089 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: H2O Athletes
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 50
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Greater muscular strength and power are relevant qualities for athletic success and decreased injury rate. It is known that dehydration impairs muscular strength and power, although the explanation for this association is not entirely clear. Besides morphological factors, strength production also depends on neural factors which in turn can be affected by dehydration. Some studies tested the effects of dehydration on neuromuscular function using electromyography (EMG) analysis. However, there is no consensus among those studies. Additionally, exercise may disturb water balance. This can further lead to dehydration if the athlete does not properly rehydrate. In this sense, the scientific evidence has identified people who are considered low drinkers that may be more susceptible to cellular shrinkage, potentially impairing health and performance. Thus, it would be expected that athletes regularly exposed to lower amounts of water intake would have beneficial effects in both performance and health if higher water ingestion was promoted, namely an improved neuromuscular function via enhanced cellular hydration. However, any potential benefit of increasing water intake on neuromuscular function is still to be determined using well-designed experimental studies and state-of-the-art methods. Lastly, there is no consensus regarding the diagnosis of dehydration in athletes. The identification of simple indices to measure dehydration in athletes is crucial as many may be inaccurately diagnosed.

Conditions

Dehydration; Hyperhydration

Keywords

Electromyography; hydration status; neuromuscular activation; muscle strength; muscle power; hydration assessment; dehydration; body composition

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (8)

• Maximum voluntary isometric contraction - Knee extension

  For the lower body strength, participants will be assessed on a Biodex System 3 Pro isokinetic dynamometer (Biodex Medical Systems, Shirley, NY). The participants will remain seated with the belts positioned on the thorax, abdomen, thigh, and above the knee on the side that is being evaluated to limit the knee movement. Each testing session will begin with a dynamic warm-up, consisting of 5min of submaximal cycle-ergometry set at 25 W followed by a 5 min of resting before starting the testing protocol. First, a MVIC 5-s voluntary knee extension (knee at 70o for the extension). Verbal encouragement and audible feedback from the dynamometer software will be provided to each participant.

  3 weeks

• Maximum voluntary isometric contraction - Knee flexion

  After the maximum voluntary isometric contraction for knee extension, participants will be asked to perform a MVIC 5-s voluntary knee flexion (30o for the flexion). This test will be performed with 3min of pause after the MVIC of knee extension.

  3 weeks

• Rate of torque development (RTD) for knee extension and flexion

  In both MVIC for knee extension and flexion, the participants will be instructed to avoid any countermovement prior to test and will be asked to exert their maximum force as fast and hard as possible, to obtain both maximal torque and rate of torque development (RTD). Verbal encouragement and audible feedback from the dynamometer software will be provided to each participant.

  3 weeks

• 5 submaximal isometric repetitions of knee extension

  5 submaximal isometric repetitions will me measuredfrom MVIC of baseline and MVIC of that day: 1) 30s at 20% of MVIC; 2) 30s at 40% of MVIC; 3) 10s at 60% of MVIC; 4) 10s at 80% of MVIC; 5) 10s at 100% of MVIC. Between repetitions a pause of 1 min will be performed between repetitions while a pause of 3 min will be performed between sets.

  3 weeks

• Fatigue task

  Last, and after a pause of 5 min, participants will perform an isometric contraction at 40% of MVIC (measured on the day) until to exhaustion. Exhaustion will be considered if a decrease of more than 10% of MVIC for more than 10s is observed.

  3 weeks

• EMG signals - Root mean square

  During the legs' strength assessment, EMG signals will be recorded (EMG Delsys Trigno Avanti, Delsys Incorporated, USA) from the vastus lateralis (VL), rectus femoris (RF), vastus medialis (VM), and biceps femoris (BF) muscles in accordance with the guidelines of the Surface EMG for the Non-invasive Assessment of Muscles (SENIAM). The electrodes will be placed before the 5 min of resting after the dynamic warm-up. EMG signals from each muscle will be pre-amplified (gain 1000), band-pass filtered (20-450 Hz), and A/D converted at 1kHz (MP100, BIOPAC Systems Inc., Goleta, CA). AcqKnowledge 4.3.1 software will be used for data collection and processing (BIOPAC Systems Inc., Goleta, CA).

  3 weeks

• EMG signals - Mean power frequency

  During the legs' strength assessment, EMG signals will be recorded (EMG Delsys Trigno Avanti, Delsys Incorporated, USA) from the vastus lateralis (VL), rectus femoris (RF), vastus medialis (VM), and biceps femoris (BF) muscles in accordance with the guidelines of the Surface EMG for the Non-invasive Assessment of Muscles (SENIAM). The electrodes will be placed before the 5 min of resting after the dynamic warm-up. EMG signals from each muscle will be pre-amplified (gain 1000), band-pass filtered (20-450 Hz), and A/D converted at 1kHz (MP100, BIOPAC Systems Inc., Goleta, CA). AcqKnowledge 4.3.1 software will be used for data collection and processing (BIOPAC Systems Inc., Goleta, CA).

  3 weeks

• Handgrip strength

  The handgrip strength test measures maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) of the hand and forearm muscles. Handgrip will be performed using a portable hand dynamometer (TSD121C; Biopac Systems, Goleta, CA, USA). Participants will be assessed on both hands alternately, in a standing position. Prior to the test, the grip dynamometer will be adjusted to the size of the hand of each subject. Handgrip strength assessment will be conducted with the subject standing up with the arms in a neutral position (halfway between supine and pronation position). Each participant will be assessed on both hands alternately until reaching 3 attempts for each hand. In each attempt, the subject will exert the maximal grip strength on the handgrip dynamometer with the assessed hand for 5s. After each attempt, there will be a resting period of 60s that will be used both for recovery and for changing the handgrip dynamometer to the opposite hand.

  3 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (21)

• Food records

  3 weeks

• Cardiorespiratory Fitness Test

  3 weeks

• Plasma osmolality

  3 weeks

• Urine osmolality

  3 weeks

• Saliva osmolality

  3 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Experimental group

EXPERIMENTAL

Over a 4-day period, participants randomly assigned to the experimental group will be instructed to maintain normal solid food choices, but to increase water intake to achieve a total water intake of ≥45ml/kg/day. Prepared bottles of water with the required amount will be given to each participant every morning and collected empty the following day. Instructions to drink small amounts of water every hour be transmitted. Adherence to instructions regarding water intake will be determined by the return of drinking bottles, analysis of daily food records, assessment of water flux (i.e., collecting urines after subjects being dosed with deuterium), and daily screening questions. These samples will be delivered on a subsequent morning during a daily laboratory visit to collect urine and saliva samples, as well as BI assessment. On the 4th day, participants will perform a neuromuscular function assessment.

Other: Increasing water intake

Control group

NO INTERVENTION

Participants randomly assigned to the control group will be instructed to maintain normal solid food choices and water intake based on their average intake reported on the food records. Adherence to instructions regarding water intake will be determined and assessments performed will occur as mentioned previously for the experimental group.

Interventions

Increasing water intake OTHER

Participants randomly assigned to the experimental group will be instructed to maintain habitual solid food choices and to increase water intake to achieve a total water intake of ≥45ml/kg/day.

Experimental group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 35 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Highly trained athletes (i.e., participating in national and international championships and/or ≥6 h of training per week)
• Athletes considered low drinkers (i.e., total water intake ≤ 35ml/kg/)
• Aged between 18 and 35 years
• Living in Lisbon and/or its surroundings
• All women should have a (self-reported) normal menstrual cycle (i.e., cycles at median intervals of less than 35 days)
• Completion of the sport's medical examination

You may not qualify if:

• Total water intake above 35ml/kg/day.
• Clinical history compatible with exertional heat illness (i.e., heat stroke, heat exhaustion, hyperthermia, among other events that suggest poor response to thermically challenging environments)
• Taking medication known to alter the normal fluid-electrolyte balance, plasma osmolality, urinary osmolality, or the chronotropic response to exercise (e.g., diuretics, antidiuretics, laxatives, oral contraceptives, drugs to control blood pressure (39)
• Exhibiting self-reported metabolic disorders or malfunction of salivary glands
• Active smoking status
• Unwilling to abstain from alcohol during this study
• Respiratory disorders, including asthma
• Injuries that would limit exercise performance
• Mechanical prostheses
• Pregnancy /planning to get pregnant within the next 8 months
• Having been pregnant within the past 6 months or breastfeeding
• Failure to complete the dietary intake and physical activity recording
• Unable to communicate with local study staff
• Needle phobia
• Inability to complete the study within the designated time frame because of plans to move out of the study area or occurrence of competition periods during the study timeframe

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Faculdade de Motricidade Humana: lead

Study Sites (1)

Faculdade Motricidade Humana

Lisbon, 1495-751, Portugal

RECRUITING

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MeSH Terms

Conditions

Dehydration; Water Intoxication

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Water-Electrolyte Imbalance; Metabolic Diseases; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases; Pathologic Processes; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Poisoning; Chemically-Induced Disorders

Study Officials

• Analiza Silva, PhD

  Faculdade Motricidade Humana

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Ruben Francisco, MSc

CONTACT

910943132; rubenfrancisco@fmh.ulisboa.pt

Filipe Jesus, MSc

CONTACT

915970380; filipejesus@fmh.ulisboa.pt

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Masking Details: Given the nature of the study, it is not possible to blind neither participants nor research team members regarding the allocated groups.
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: A randomized controlled trial (RCT)

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 13, 2022
• First Posted: May 18, 2022
• Study Start: November 1, 2021
• Primary Completion: October 31, 2024
• Study Completion: December 31, 2024
• Last Updated: May 29, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-05

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

PT (1)