Effects of repeated local heat therapy on skeletal muscle structure and function in humans

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of repeated exposure to local heat therapy (HT) on skeletal muscle function, myofiber morphology, capillarization, and mitochondrial content in humans. Twelve young adults (23.6 ± 4.8 yr, body mass index 24.9 ± 3.0 kg/m 2 ) had one randomly selected thigh treated with HT (garment perfused with water at ~52°C) for 8 consecutive weeks (90 min, 5 days/wk) while the opposite thigh served as...