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BACKGROUND: The single-leg heel rise (SLHR) test is a simple and widely used tool for evaluating calf muscular endurance in sports and dance by counting heel rises to fatigue. This study explored the potential of muscle near-infrared spectroscopy (mNIRS) to provide physiological insights into local muscle oxygenation and fatigue during SLHR performance. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, twenty-four sports science students (9 females, 15 males) completed the SLHR test, during which the number of repetitions, heel rise height, total work, and local muscle oxygen saturation (SmO2) kinetics were recorded. RESULTS: =0.179). In contrast, peak (SmO2peak) and minimum (SmO2min) oxygen saturation levels were not associated with the number of repetitions and total work performed (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the potential of SmO2RR as a physiological marker of muscular endurance during submaximal dynamic tasks like the SLHR test. Future research should explore different paces and time intervals to further establish mNIRS-based indicators of muscular fatigue and recovery during this submaximal dynamic assessment.
Schrefl et al. (Wed,) studied this question.