Conrad Rockel1, 2, Andrew Davis, 23, Greg Wells4, Michael Noseworthy1, 2
1School of Biomedical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; 2Imaging Research Centre, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; 3Medical Physics and Applied Radiation Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; 4Faculty of Physical Education and Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
The time course of diffusion within calf muscle following exercise was investigated using DTI in the presence and absence of caffeine. Two trials were performed, each involving two exercise sets one hour apart. In one trial, caffeine was consumed after the first exercise set. Eight DTI volumes were collected both prior to and immediately after each set. In gastrocnemius, post-exercise mean diffusivity(MD) and eigenvalues were approximately baseline, followed by a rapid increase and subsequent gradual decline. Soleus post-exercise MD and eigenvalues increased slightly from rest and appeared stable across time. The presence of caffeine did not affect diffusivity values.