RT Journal Article
T1 Intra- and inter-session reliability and repeatability of an infrared thermography device designed for materials to measure skin temperature of the triceps surae muscle tissue of athletes
A1 Calvo Lobo, César
A1 San Antolín, Marta
A1 García García, Daniel
A1 Becerro De Bengoa Vallejo, Ricardo
A1 Losa Iglesias, Marta Elena
A1 Cosín Matamoros, Julia
A1 Casado Hernández, Israel
A1 Martínez Jiménez, Eva María
A1 Mazoteras Pardo, Victoria
A1 Rodríguez Sanz, David
AB BackgroundInfrared thermography devices have been commonly applied to measure superficial temperature in structural composites and walls. These tools were cheaper than other thermographic devices used to measure superficial human muscle tissue temperature. In addition, infrared thermography has been previously used to assess skin temperature related to muscle tissue conditions in the triceps surae of athletes. Nevertheless, the reliability and repeatability of an infrared thermography device designed for materials, such as the Manual Infrared Camera PCE-TC 30, have yet to be determined to measure skin temperature of the triceps surae muscle tissue of athletes.ObjectiveThe purpose was to determine the procedure’s intra- and inter-session reliability and repeatability to determine skin temperature within the Manual Infrared Camera PCE-TC 30 thermography device in the triceps surae muscle tissue of athletes, which was initially designed to measure the superficial temperature of materials.MethodsA total of 34 triceps surae muscles were bilaterally assessed from 17 healthy athletes using the Manual Infrared Camera PCE-TC 30 thermography device to determine intra- (at the same day separated by 1 h) and inter-session (at alternate days separated by 48 h) reliability and repeatability of the skin temperature of the soleus, medial and lateral gastrocnemius muscles. The triceps surae complex weas measured by a region of interest of 1 cm2 through five infrared thermography images for each muscle. Statistical analyses comprised intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), standard error of measurement (SEM), minimum detectable change (MCD), systematic error of measurement, correlation (r), and Bland-Altman plots completed with linear regression models (R2).ResultsIntra- and inter-session measurements of the proposed infrared thermography procedure showed excellent reliability (ICC(1,2) = 0.968–0.977), measurement errors (SEM = 0.186–0.232 °C; MDC = 0.515–0.643 °C), correlations (r = 0.885–0.953), and did not present significant systematic error of measurements (P > 0.05). Adequate agreement between each pair of measurement moments was presented by the Bland-Altman plots according to the limits of agreement and non-significant linear regression models (R2 = 0.000–0.019; P > 0.05).ConclusionsThe proposed procedure to determine skin temperature within the Manual Infrared Camera PCE-TC 30 thermography device presented excellent intra- and inter-session reliability and repeatability in athletes’ triceps surae muscle tissue. Future studies should consider the SEM and MDC of this procedure to measure the skin temperature of soleus, medial, and lateral gastrocnemius muscles to promote triceps surae muscle prevention and recovery in athletes.
PB PeerJ Inc.
SN 2167-8359
YR 2023
FD 2023-03-09
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/124587
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/124587
LA eng
NO Calvo-Lobo, Cesar, et al. «Intra- and inter-session reliability and repeatability of an infrared thermography device designed for materials to measure skin temperature of the triceps surae muscle tissue of athletes». PeerJ, vol. 11, 2023, https://doi.org/10.7717/PEERJ.15011.
NO César Calvo-Lobo, David Rodríguez-Sanz and Ricardo Becerro-de-Bengoa-Vallejo declared that this work has been supported by a Contract 83 between the Complutense University and PCE Ibérica S.L. entitle “Fiabilidad sobre el dispositivo de termografía Manual Infrared camera PCE-TC 30 en humanos” (Reference number: 6-2020).
NO Universidad Complutense de Madrid
NO PCE Ibérica S.L.
DS Docta Complutense
RD 19 dic 2025