Courbatures après exercice excentrique : High et Low responders ?

It is well known that novel and/or unusual exercise consisting of lengthening muscle contractions (eccentric exercise) results in muscle damage. Muscle damage can be assessed via measures of indirect markers such as isometric strength, range of motion, blood levels of muscle-specific proteins and muscle soreness. It has been shown that changes in these markers present a large inter-subject variability. Especially, the seric CK response to exercise is largely documented and some authors introduced the notion of High and Low responders to define subjects with exaggerated and light or moderate response to eccentric protocol, respectively. The reasons for the various susceptibility to eccentric exercise are not understood but it seems to be influenced by several factors including genetical, morphological, physiological or training elements. Further studies are necessary to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of the large inter-subject variability in responses to eccentric exercise and in this context, a proteomic approach could be interesting to highlight protein expression differences between High and Low responders.