Background: It has been reported that methylsulfonylmethane(MSM) has positive effects on exercise-induced muscle damage(EIMD) expression and recovery as antioxidant and pro-inflammatory cytokine mitigation, but the effectiveness was caused by oral administration. Even though transdermal application of certain substances has the advantage without the side effect of oral administration, there are few studies with transdermal application of MSM.
Purpose: This study was aimed at investigating the effect of transdermal MSM on muscle damage and recovery after eccentric exercise in young men.
Methods: Experiment design was set as single blind, randomized cross-over with placebo-controlled. Two experiment sessions were conducted with at least two-week of wash-out between sessions after familiarization including body composition, hemodynamic index. Total of eleven males(age, 21.64 ± 0.65) without any cardiovascular and/or orthopedic disorders who participated in the study had conducted 30 maximal eccentric exercise using their non-dominant elbow flexor in each session. The contrast substance containing 3.65% menthol as a main component(in contrast session, product B), and the experimental substance containing 10% MSM with 3.65% menthol(in MMS session, product M) were injected into separate containers and provided to participants. Participants were instructed to apply the substance provided in each session 3 times a day from immediately before the eccentric exercise(applied 5 ml per time, at least 1 hour before measurement) until 96 hours of the session. To evaluate the change in the level of EIMD, muscle damage indicators, including circumference, muscle soreness, range of motion(ROM), and maximal voluntary isometric contraction(MVIC), were used. In addition, mechanical properties of the local muscle and the ultrasound imaging including echo intensity and muscle thickness were evaluated. All measurements performed at 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours after exercise, including immediately before and after exercise.
Results: There was a significant interaction effect in the middle- and proximal portion of upper arm circumference(p < 0.05, respectively). In the muscle pain that occurred during extension, contrast had a statistically increase compared to the pre-exercise at 72 hours(p < 0.05), but MMS had no statistically difference after exercise. Although there was no significant interaction between sessions in the ROM, there was significant interaction effect between sessions in the MVIC(p < 0.05), furthermore, contrast was significantly lower immediately after exercise than MMS(p < 0.05). Among the indices extracted from ultrasound images, the change in muscle thickness had no significant interaction effects between sessions in both the distal- and middle portion. In addition, the changes of echo intensity had statistically significant increase after exercise in the contrast of the distal- and middle portion and MMS of the distal portion, but there was no statistically significant difference in MMS of the middle portion after exercise.
Conclusion: The current study suggests that the transdermal application of MSM may induce relatively positive results within recovery periods following an eccentric exercise compared to the treatment that has been widely used previously, in terms of edema, MVIC, and pain.