Morphologic Response in Femoral Cartilage During and After 40-Minute Treadmill Running.

CONTEXT: It is unclear whether the response in femoral cartilage to running at different intensities is different.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the acute patterns of deformation and recovery in femoral cartilage thickness during and after running at different speeds.

DESIGN

Crossover study.

SETTING

Laboratory.

PATIENTS OR OTHER

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 17 healthy men (age = 23.9 ± 2.3 years, height = 173.1 ± 5.5 cm, mass = 73.9 ± 8.0 kg).

INTERVENTION(S): Participants performed a 40-minute treadmill run at speeds of 7.5 and 8.5 km/h.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Ultrasonographic images of femoral cartilage thickness (intercondylar, lateral condyle, and medial condyle) were obtained every 5 minutes during the experiment (40 minutes of running followed by a 60-minute recovery period) at each session. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and Bonferroni- and Dunnett-adjusted post hoc t tests. To identify patterns of cartilage response, we extracted principal components (PCs) from the cartilage-thickness data using PC analysis, and PC scores were analyzed using t tests.

RESULTS

Regardless of time, femoral cartilage thicknesses were greater for the 8.5-km/h run than the 7.5-km/h run (intercondylar: F1,656 = 24.73, P < .001, effect size, 0.15; lateral condyle: F1,649 = 16.60, P < .001, effect size, 0.16; medial condyle: F1,649 = 16.55, P < .001, effect size, 0.12). We observed a time effect in intercondylar thickness (F20,656 = 2.15, P = .003), but the Dunnett-adjusted post hoc t test revealed that none of the time point values differed from the baseline value (P > .38 for all comparisons). Although the PC1 and PC2 captured the magnitudes of cartilage thickness and time shift (eg, earlier versus later response), respectively, t tests showed that the PC scores were not different between 7.5 and 8.5 km/h (intercondylar: P ≥ .32; lateral condyle: P ≥ .78; medial condyle: P ≥ .16).

CONCLUSIONS

Although the 40-minute treadmill run with different speeds produced different levels of fatigue, morphologic differences (<3%) in the femoral cartilage at both speeds seemed to be negligible.