TY  - JOUR
A1  - Jafarnezhadgero, Amir Ali
A1  - Noroozi, Raha
A1  - Fakhri Mirzanag, Ehsan
A1  - Granacher, Urs
A1  - de Souza Castelo Oliveira, Anderson
T1  - The Impact of COVID-19 and Muscle Fatigue on Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Running Kinetics in Female Recreational Runners
JF  - Frontiers in Physiology
N2  - Background: There is evidence that fully recovered COVID-19 patients usually resume physical exercise, but do not perform at the same intensity level performed prior to infection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 infection and recovery as well as muscle fatigue on cardiorespiratory fitness and running biomechanics in female recreational runners.

Methods: Twenty-eight females were divided into a group of hospitalized and recovered COVID-19 patients (COV, n = 14, at least 14 days following recovery) and a group of healthy age-matched controls (CTR, n = 14). Ground reaction forces from stepping on a force plate while barefoot overground running at 3.3 m/s was measured before and after a fatiguing protocol. The fatigue protocol consisted of incrementally increasing running speed until reaching a score of 13 on the 6–20 Borg scale, followed by steady-state running until exhaustion. The effects of group and fatigue were assessed for steady-state running duration, steady-state running speed, ground contact time, vertical instantaneous loading rate and peak propulsion force.

Results: COV runners completed only 56% of the running time achieved by the CTR (p < 0.0001), and at a 26% slower steady-state running speed (p < 0.0001). There were fatigue-related reductions in loading rate (p = 0.004) without group differences. Increased ground contact time (p = 0.002) and reduced peak propulsion force (p = 0.005) were found for COV when compared to CTR.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that female runners who recovered from COVID-19 showed compromised running endurance and altered running kinetics in the form of longer stance periods and weaker propulsion forces. More research is needed in this area using larger sample sizes to confirm our study findings.
KW  - hospitalization
KW  - running mechanics
KW  - ground reaction forces
KW  - virus infection
KW  - COVID-19
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.942589
SN  - 1664-042X
VL  - 13
SP  - 1
EP  - 10
PB  - Frontiers
CY  - Lausanne, Schweiz
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Jafarnezhadgero, Amir Ali
A1  - Noroozi, Raha
A1  - Fakhri, Ehsan
A1  - Granacher, Urs
A1  - Oliveira, Anderson Souza
T1  - The Impact of COVID-19 and muscle fatigue on cardiorespiratory fitness and running kinetics in female recreational runners
JF  - Frontiers in physiology
N2  - Background: 
There is evidence that fully recovered COVID-19 patients usually resume physical exercise, but do not perform at the same intensity level performed prior to infection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 infection and recovery as well as muscle fatigue on cardiorespiratory fitness and running biomechanics in female recreational runners.

Methods: 
Twenty-eight females were divided into a group of hospitalized and recovered COVID-19 patients (COV, n = 14, at least 14 days following recovery) and a group of healthy age-matched controls (CTR, n = 14). Ground reaction forces from stepping on a force plate while barefoot overground running at 3.3 m/s was measured before and after a fatiguing protocol. The fatigue protocol consisted of incrementally increasing running speed until reaching a score of 13 on the 6-20 Borg scale, followed by steady-state running until exhaustion. The effects of group and fatigue were assessed for steady-state running duration, steady-state running speed, ground contact time, vertical instantaneous loading rate and peak propulsion force.

Results: 
COV runners completed only 56% of the running time achieved by the CTR (p < 0.0001), and at a 26% slower steady-state running speed (p < 0.0001). There were fatigue-related reductions in loading rate (p = 0.004) without group differences. Increased ground contact time (p = 0.002) and reduced peak propulsion force (p = 0.005) were found for COV when compared to CTR.

Conclusion: 
Our results suggest that female runners who recovered from COVID-19 showed compromised running endurance and altered running kinetics in the form of longer stance periods and weaker propulsion forces. More research is needed in this area using larger sample sizes to confirm our study findings.
KW  - hospitalization
KW  - running mechanics
KW  - ground reaction forces
KW  - virus
KW  - infection
KW  - COVID-19
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.942589
SN  - 1664-042X
VL  - 13
PB  - Frontiers Media
CY  - Lausanne
ER  -