Skin blood flow and skin temperature 24 h after induced muscle damage

Infrared thermography is a noninvasive tool to monitor muscle damage, though its effectiveness is debated, as some studies report no skin temperature changes 24-48 h post-damage. These findings are often attributed to skin blood flow, but there is a lack of studies assessing this outcome. This study aimed to assess baseline skin temperature and skin blood flow responses 24 h after an induced quadriceps damage protocol and to establish a possible relationship between both variables. The thigh skin temperature and skin blood flow, pain perception, serum creatine kinase, and height of countermovement jump were measured in 15 physically active adults over 4 days, on two consecutive days per week. The induced muscle damage protocol, based on 100 drop jumps, was performed on the third day. Higher serum creatine kinase and pain perception (p < 0.01, ES > 1.20) were found 24 h after muscle damage induction. Thigh skin temperature and skin blood flow were unaffected by the muscle damage protocol, and a moderate correlation was observed between both outcomes (r = 0.59). We conclude that muscle damage does not alter skin blood flow 24 h after the induction, and therefore, this also had no consequences on skin temperature.