The relationship of infrared thermography with the identification of changes in biological markers after EXERCISE: A systematic review.
Systematic Review
Indirect biological markers of muscle damage are used to measure the level of muscle damage caused by exercise in athletes who are constantly exposed to overloads. However, infrared thermography is an evaluation and diagnostic method that has been frequently used to identify the location of possible injuries caused by temperature asymmetries. A systematic review was carried out with the aim of verifying whether changes in skin temperature can be compared with the inflammatory physiological changes observed after exercise protocols in trained individuals. The PRISMA recommendations were followed in January 2023, in the Pubmed, Medline, Lilacs, Scielo, Sportdiscus and Embase databases. A total of 165 studies were found. After screening, five studies were selected for this systematic review. The results suggest that infrared thermography is being widely used for injury screening, and that few studies associate the method with biomarker tests. However, it may be more advantageous for identifying muscle damage, as it does not determine the location of the injury, but only what is injured. Therefore, the use of infrared thermography as a tool combined with clinical examination techniques may be a complement to clinical evaluations and support decisions.
