Topical Sodium Bicarbonate: No Improvement in Blood Buffering Capacity or Exercise Performance

Novel insights into athlete physical recovery concerning lactate metabolism, lactate clearance and fatigue monitoring: A comprehensive review

Lactate accumulation will appear in athlete skeletal muscle after intense exercise. If the high lactate level maintains, athletes will sustain fatigue and athletic capacity decline due to internal environment and normal metabolism disruption. In order to enhance athlete physical recovery and exercise performance in high-intensity sport events, it is of great significance to explore the scientific intervention procedures based on quicker lactate clearance in skeletal muscle and blood after exercise. This article collects classic and novel literature in terms of lactate metabolism, lactate clearance and fatigue monitoring during exercise by searching PubMed database and then summarizes comprehensive insights into athlete physical recovery with corresponding figures and charts. We introduce the generation and transformation process of lactate, lactate clearance pathways and the fatigue monitoring methods for athletes in detail. The lactate clearance pathways involve biochemical pathways (oxygen inhalation, amino acids supplement, targeting free radical, alkaline reserve, targeting vasomotion, ribose supplement), physical activities (exercise-mediated activities, non-exercise activities) and training methods (interval training, altitude training) to accelerate lactate metabolism. The biochemical factors for monitoring athletic fatigue level involve blood, urine, sweat, saliva and exhaled gas. We hope this review can offer some significant and scientific assistance for athlete recovering after exercise and improving sport achievements based on quicker lactate clearance.

Enhancing exercise performance and recovery through sodium bicarbonate supplementation: introducing the ingestion recovery framework

Sodium bicarbonate (SB) supplementation is an ergogenic strategy for athletes competing in high-intensity exercise, but the efficacy of SB for accelerating recovery from exercise and thus improving performance during repeated bouts of exercise is not fully understood. In a similar fashion to using SB as a pre-exercise buffer, it is possible accelerated restoration of blood pH and bicarbonate following an exercise bout mechanistically underpins the use of SB as a recovery aid. Physiological mechanisms contributing to beneficial effects for SB during repeated bout exercise could be more far-reaching however, as alterations in strong ion difference (SID) and attenuated cellular stress response might also contribute to accelerated recovery from exercise. From inspection of existing literature, ingestion of 0.3 g kg-1 body mass SB ~60-90 min pre-exercise seems to be the most common dosage strategy, but there is evidence emerging for the potential application of post-exercise supplementation timing, gradual SB doses throughout a competition day, or even ingestion during exercise. Based on this review of literature, an SB ingestion recovery framework is proposed to guide athletes and practitioners on the use of SB to enhance performance for multiple bouts of exercise.

Oral but Not Topical Sodium Bicarbonate Improves Repeated Sprint Performance During Simulated Soccer Match Play Exercise in Collegiate Athletes

This study investigated the effect of oral and topical sodium bicarbonate (SB) on soccer-specific performance during simulated soccer exercise. In a block randomized, double-blind, crossover design, 10 collegiate male soccer players (stature: 181.7 ± 3.2 cm, body mass: 81.7 ± 10.5 kg) performed soccer-specific performance tests (countermovement jumps, Illinois agility, 8 × 25 m repeated sprints) throughout a 90-min soccer-specific aerobic field test (SAFT90) following 0.3 g/kg body mass SB in capsules (SB-ORAL), 0.9036 g/kg body mass PR Lotion (SB-LOTION), or placebo capsules and lotion (PLA). Soccer-specific performance tests were conducted pre-SAFT90, during half-time and post-SAFT90. Blood samples were analyzed for acid-base balance (pH; bicarbonate, HCO3-) and strong ions (sodium, Na+; potassium, K+). Average sprint times were quicker for SB-ORAL than PLA during half-time (3.7%; p = .049; g = .57) and post-SAFT90 (4.9%; p = .041; g = .66). SB-ORAL increased pH and HCO3- prewarm-up and during half-time (p < .05), and lowered K+ during half-time (p = .035) compared with PLA. SB-LOTION increased pH (p = .019) and lowered K+ (p = .012) during half-time compared with PLA. SB-LOTION increased Na+ postexercise compared with PLA (p = .008). Repeated sprint times during simulated soccer exercise improved for SB-ORAL, which might have been mechanistically underpinned by elevated blood buffering capacity and greater regulation of strong ion concentration. Consuming SB in capsules is a more effective strategy than topical SB application for improving blood buffering capacity and repeated sprint performance throughout competitive soccer matches.

Transcutaneous delivery of sodium bicarbonate increases intramuscular pH

Introduction: Oral bicarbonate loading improves the buffering of metabolic acidosis and may improve exercise performance but can also result in gastric distress. Momentous' PR Lotion contains a novel composition intended to provide a transdermal delivery vehicle for sodium bicarbonate which could allow the same ergogenic effect without the gastric distress. The present study explored the effect of transdermal delivery of sodium bicarbonate in a resting condition. Methods: We measured the pH from intramuscular dialysate, via microdialysis, of the vastus lateralis during a 2 h application of PR Lotion (40 g of lotion per leg) in 9 subjects (3 women, 6 men). Venous blood samples were obtained for serum pH before and after application. A placebo time control was also performed in 4 subjects (2 women, 2 men). We hypothesized that PR Lotion application would increase pH of intramuscular dialysate. Results: PR Lotion resulted in a rise in pH of 0.13 ± 0.04 units (p < 0.05), which translates to a 28% reduction in [H⁺]. Increases in serum pH were smaller (∼9%) yet consistent (p < 0.05). In contrast, placebo time control pH tended to decrease (p = 0.08). The effect of PR Lotion on pH tended to correlate with the dose per kg body weight of each individual (r = 0.70, p = 0.08). Conclusion: These observations support the idea of transdermal bicarbonate delivery impacting pH buffering both systemically and intramuscularly. Further work investigating these potential benefits in an exercising model would be critical to establishing PR Lotion's utility as an ergogenic aid.