Department of Kinesiology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA.
Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia, Athens, GA.
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2019 Oct;51(10):2088-2097. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002016.
Brief, high-intensity cycling is popular because physiological benefits accrue with a short workout time, but burning pain in the quadriceps is a potential barrier to engaging in this type of exercise. Virtual reality (VR) can temporarily decrease pain, but its effect on muscle pain during high-intensity exercise is unknown. The primary purpose of this experiment was to test whether adding interactive VR (I-VR) to high-intensity cycling could reduce quadriceps pain or improve performance.
Ninety-four adults who were physically active in their leisure time and age 18 to 29 yr completed three 30-s sprint interval cycling trials at a high resistance (0.085- and 0.075-kg resistance to the flywheel per kilogram body weight for men and women, respectively). In this randomized between-subject experiment, participants cycled while wearing a head-mounted display and viewing either (i) a dynamically changing cityscape perceived as interactively cycling through a virtual city (I-VR group) or (ii) a static picture of the cityscape with instructions to mentally imagine cycling through that city (static VR/motor imagery control group).
Sphericity-adjusted 2 × 3 (group-time) ANOVA revealed a significant group-time interaction (F = 4.568; df = 1.499, 133.301; ηp = 0.047, P = 0.021) for pain intensity. With I-VR, pain intensities were 13.3% (mean, 4.60 vs 5.31; d = 0.28) and 11.8% (mean, 5.68 vs 6.44; d = 0.27) lower at sprint trials 2 and 3, respectively. The group-time interaction (P = 0.412) was not significant for total work.
Compared with a static VR/motor imagery control condition, I-VR during brief, high-intensity, fatigue-inducing leg cycling attenuates quadriceps pain intensity without reducing performance.
短暂、高强度的骑行很受欢迎，因为短时间的锻炼就能带来生理上的益处，但股四头肌的灼烧痛可能会成为进行这种运动的潜在障碍。虚拟现实（VR）可以暂时减轻疼痛，但它对高强度运动中肌肉疼痛的影响尚不清楚。本实验的主要目的是测试在高强度骑行中加入交互式 VR（I-VR）是否可以减轻股四头肌疼痛或提高表现。
94 名在闲暇时间积极运动、年龄在 18 至 29 岁的成年人完成了三次 30 秒冲刺间隔骑行试验，阻力为高阻力（男性为飞轮每公斤体重 0.085-0.075 公斤，女性为飞轮每公斤体重 0.085-0.075 公斤）。在这个随机的被试间实验中，参与者戴着头戴式显示器骑行，同时观看一个动态变化的城市景观，感觉自己在虚拟城市中互动骑行（I-VR 组），或者观看城市景观的静态图片，同时被指示在心理上想象自己在那个城市中骑行（静态 VR/运动想象对照组）。
经过球对称调整的 2×3（组-时间）方差分析显示，疼痛强度存在显著的组-时间交互作用（F=4.568；df=1.499，133.301；ηp=0.047，P=0.021）。在使用 I-VR 时，第 2 次和第 3 次冲刺试验的疼痛强度分别降低了 13.3%（平均值 4.60 与 5.31；d=0.28）和 11.8%（平均值 5.68 与 6.44；d=0.27）。组-时间交互作用（P=0.412）对于总工作量并不显著。
与静态 VR/运动想象对照组相比，在短暂的、高强度的、导致疲劳的腿部骑行中使用 I-VR 可以减轻股四头肌的疼痛强度，而不会降低表现。
