NIRS for diagnosing muscular exhaustion

A relatively new area of research in training and exercise science examines the use of Near-infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) to measure muscular oxygen saturation during exercise (Feldmann & Erlacher, 2021). The recent development of portable and compact NIRS sensors makes it possible to now record bioenergetic changes during exercise (Feldmann et al., 2019). Fundamentally, NIRS provides information on oxygen supply and demand in a local muscle, providing insights into the oxygen cascade and limits of aerobic metabolism. In a completed project, we conducted multiple experiments to investigated the use of NIRS in elite climbers (see video; Baláš et al., 2021; Feldmann et al., 2020; Feldmann et al., 2021). Several international collaborations are currently underway in this area to initiate projects aimed at determining how the technology can be most effectively applied in sports practice.

Selected Publications:

Baláš, J., Gajdošík, J., Giles, D., Fryer, S., Krupková, D., Brtník, T. & Feldmann, A. (2021). Isolated finger flexor vs. exhaustive whole-body climbing tests? How to assess endurance in sport climbers? European Journal of Applied Physiology, 121(5), 1337-1348. 10.1007/s00421-021-04595-7

Feldmann, A. & Erlacher, D. (2021). Critical oxygenation: Can muscle oxygenation inform us about critical power? Medical Hypotheses, 150, 110575. 10.1016/j.mehy.2021.110575

Feldmann, A. M., Erlacher, D., Pfister, S. & Lehmann, R. (2020). Muscle oxygen dynamics in elite climbers during finger-hang tests at varying intensities. Scientific Reports, 10:3040. 10.1038/s41598-020-60029-y

Feldmann, A., Lehmann, R., Wittmann, F., Wolf, P., Baláš, J. & Erlacher, D. (2021). Acute effect of high-intensity climbing on performance and muscle oxygenation in elite climbers. Journal of Science in Sport and Exercise, 24(11), 115001. 10.1007/S42978-021-00139-9

Feldmann, A., Schmitz, R. & Erlacher, D. (2019). Near-infrared spectroscopy-derived muscle oxygen saturation on a 0% to 100% scale: Reliability and validity of the Moxy Monitor. Journal of Biomedical Optics, 24, 1. 10.1117/1.jbo.24.11.115001

Contact:

Andri Feldmann

Daniel Erlacher