Phototherapy in post-exercise recovery and performance: stratified randomized controlled trial, double-blind, placebo-controlled

Abstract

Background: Recent studies have shown positive results in the application of phototherapy for the improvement of performance and acceleration of the recovery process both in the application before and after exercise. It is relevant to the investigation of the effect of phototherapy adjusted to the type of training, exploring the effects observed in the application before and after exercise. Objective: analyze and compare the effect of a special protocol of phototherapy using different light sources (laser and pulsed super-LEDs) interacting with a combined training. Methods: 45 male participants will be allocated from a stratified randomization into three groups: control (n=15), placebo (n=15) and group special protocol of phototherapy (n=15). Participants will perform a combined training of sprints and squats twice a week for twelve weeks. The application of phototherapy and placebo will be administered in phase 2, after sprints and just before the squat. Will be investigated functional, clinical, blood and autonomic outcomes. The normal distribution of functional markers will be tested by Komolgorov-Smirnov test. In the case of normal distribution is used the Student t test for independent samples and the Student t test parametric for two independent samples in the case of non-normal sample. For the other markers, sphericity of the data will be tested by Mauchly test. In case of violation of the sphericity assumption, the correction of Greenhouse-Geisser will be performed. The data will be analyzed using analysis of variance for repeated measures (Bonferroni post-test), which provide information on the effects of time, group and interaction. All statistical analyzes assume the significance level of 5%. (AU)