Muscle oxygen saturation according to sex and body composition in repetitive work whith load
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4321/s0465-546x2025000400006Keywords:
Muscle oxygenation, Physiology, Ergonomics, Near-infrared spectroscopyAbstract
Muscle oxygen tissue saturation (SmO₂) was identified during repetitive elbow flexion movements with progressive loads and its relationship with body composition, basal metabolism, and gender.
Using a mixed design: quasi-experimental with repeated measures and cross-sectional correlational analysis, SmO₂ was explored in 10 young women and 10 young men in three 20-minute sessions with loads of 10%, 20% and 30% of maximum strength. SmO₂ was measured at baseline (minute 0), minute 10 and minute 20 using near-infrared spectroscopy. In addition, body composition, basal metabolism and % water was measured using bioimpedance. The data were analysed using ANOVA, Pearson’s correlations and Cohen’s d for effect size, with a significance level of α = 0.05.
Men had significantly higher weight(80.10 vs. 66.30 kg), lean mass(62.06 vs. 43.30 kg) and basal metabolism(1,768.40 vs. 1,356.40 cal/day), with large effect sizes (d between 2.00 and 3.12). There were no significant differences between sexes in any SmO₂ measurement, only the SmO₂ measurement at 10% at minute 0 showed a trend (p = 0.092). The only significant correlations between anthropometric variables were BMI/fat mass (r = +0.829, p < 0.001) and lean mass/basal metabolic rate (r = +0.698, p = 0.001).
In conclusion, the study revealed sex differences in body composition and basal metabolism with a large effect size, with no statistically significant relationships between SmO₂ and body composition variables. However, SmO₂ showed similar behaviour between sexes at higher loads.
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