Do you know: Finger-prick blood test detects muscle damage, tracks recovery in elite athletes
in 2025
Change in thiol-oxidized albumin level for the pre- and post-marathon testing periods. Credit: Physiological relationships (2024). DOI: 10.14814/phy2.70155
Knowing when an athlete can safely return to training after strenuous exercise usually relies on coaches and athletes making the best guesses, but a new easy-to-use fingerprint blood test, developed by Australian researchers, identifies first the hidden muscle damage, then follows how the long convalescence takes.
Proteomics International Managing Director, Dr Richard Lipscombe, said: “The OxiDx test could be a literal game-changer for sports medicine. With this easy-to-use test that can detect invisible muscle damage, athletes can adjust their training program to avoid more serious muscle damage. injury.
“Athletes recover at different rates, so the general rule of resting for a few days can often lead to athletes returning to training too quickly, re-injuring themselves, and prolonging their recovery time. The OxiDx test has implications for all high-level athletes, from footballers to horse racing.
The first patented OxiDx technology measures levels of muscle damage using a simple fingerstick blood sample to detect protein biomarkers in the blood. There is no equivalent test on the market. The research is published in the magazine Physiological relationships.
“There is a significant gap in the field of sports science, focused on the lack of sensitive biomarkers for exercise-induced muscle damage,” Dr. Lipscombe said.
Marathon running causes significant muscle damage, called exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD), which can impair performance and increase the risk of injury if recovery is incomplete.
“Oxidative stress levels peak 48 hours after the marathon and remain elevated for up to five days, aligning with traditional indicators of muscle damage like reduced muscle strength, increased soreness, and elevated creatine kinase. However, for some athletes, recovery may take longer.
“This easy-to-use test provides athletes with accurate measurements so they can confidently make decisions about when to return to training,” he said.
Proteomics International aims to launch the new test in Australia through its subsidiary OxiDx in the first half of 2025.
More information:
Christopher James et al, Temporal changes in thiol-oxidized plasma albumin are associated with recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage after marathon running, Physiological relationships (2024). DOI: 10.14814/phy2.70155
Provided by Proteomics International Laboratories Limited
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