An interventional study of Mineral-infused garment and Non-infused control garment in Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness and Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage, sponsored by StudySetGo. Recruiting at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 45 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-20.
Sponsored by StudySetGo · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether wearing mineral-infused clothing helps muscles recover after a hard bout of unaccustomed exercise in healthy adults aged 18 to 45 who have not done lower-body resistance or jump training in the last 6 months.
The main question it aims to answer is: does wearing the mineral-infused garment lead to greater recovery of leg muscle strength (maximal voluntary isometric contraction of the knee extensors) 72 hours after exercise, compared with wearing an identical garment without the mineral infusion?
Researchers will also compare the two garments for recovery of jump performance, muscle soreness and blood creatine kinase (a marker of muscle damage), and will describe garment comfort and tolerability.
Participants will:
Unaccustomed exercise with a substantial eccentric component produces exercise-induced muscle damage, characterised by a transient loss of muscle force, delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) that typically peaks 48 to 72 hours after exercise, reduced explosive performance and a rise in circulating creatine kinase. Lower-limb garments are widely used to aid recovery, and meta-analyses of compression garments report small to moderate benefits for strength, power and perceived soreness. Mineral-infused textiles, marketed as re-emitting body heat as far-infrared radiation, form a poorly characterised category of recovery garment, and their effect on recovery from muscle-damaging exercise is unknown.
Design: single-site, randomised, double-blind, sham-controlled, parallel-group trial with 1:1 allocation, conducted at a StudySetGo study site in Exeter, United Kingdom. Randomisation uses computer-generated permuted blocks of varying size, stratified by sex. The control garment is manufactured to the same external specification, fabric, colour, sizing and finish as the active garment but without the mineral infusion, and is supplied in identical coded packaging.
Procedures: screening and consent are completed remotely (electronic consent and screening questionnaire via PandaDoc, followed by a Zoom screening call). On Day 1, participants are randomised and issued their garments, then complete baseline assessments in a fixed order: capillary blood sample, soreness visual analogue scale (100 mm, during a bodyweight squat), maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVC) of the knee extensors of the dominant limb and squat jump. Participants then perform a muscle-damaging protocol of 100 drop jumps (5 sets of 20, 10 s between jumps, 2 min between sets) under one-to-one supervision, followed by 0-hour assessments. Garments are worn for a minimum of 16 hours per day (approximately 8 hours waking and 8 hours overnight) through the 72-hour recovery period, removed only for assessments and personal care, and wear is recorded in a daily log. Assessments are repeated at 24, 48 and 72 hours. Participants keep their habitual diet and caffeine intake, have their last meal and any caffeine at least 2 hours before testing, attend at the same time of day (plus or minus 1 hour) on each visit, and avoid alcohol, other recovery modalities, anti-inflammatory medication and strenuous exercise during the study. A Study Exit Questionnaire at 72 hours records garment comfort and tolerability and the participant's guess of allocation.
Sample size: based on Hill et al. (2017), a difference of 8.7 percentage points in MVC recovery at 72 hours (Cohen's d = 0.888), two-tailed alpha 0.05 and power 0.80 require 42 participants (21 per group); allowing approximately 20% dropout, 52 participants (26 per group) will be enrolled.
Analysis: the primary analysis is on the intention-to-treat population using a linear mixed-effects model with group, timepoint and group-by-timepoint interaction as fixed effects, pre-exercise baseline as a covariate and participant as a random effect. Secondary models are additionally adjusted for sex. Pre-specified sensitivity analyses examine hormonal status, and a per-protocol analysis includes participants meeting the wear-adherence threshold (mean of at least 16 hours per day with no day below 12 hours). Creatine kinase is log-transformed and reported as geometric mean ratios.
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This study's planned enrollment of 52 is above the median of 44 across 216 interventional studies indexed under Myalgia.
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Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.
What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
BMI (body mass index)
Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.
What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Corticosteroids (steroids)
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraindication
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants wear mineral-infused socks and leggings during the muscle-damaging exercise protocol and for a minimum of 16 hours per day throughout the 72-hour recovery period.
Other: Mineral-infused garment · Other: Muscle-damaging eccentric exercise (drop jumps)
Participants wear socks and leggings manufactured to the same specification, fabric, colour, sizing and packaging as the active garment but without the mineral infusion, on the same wear schedule.
Other: Non-infused control garment · Other: Muscle-damaging eccentric exercise (drop jumps)
Commercially available lower-limb garments (socks and leggings) with the manufacturer's proprietary mineral formulation incorporated into the textile by a post-manufacturing infusion process. Three new, unworn sets are issued per participant (one per recovery day). Worn during the drop-jump protocol and for at least 16 hours per day (approximately 8 hours waking and 8 hours overnight) for 72 hours; removed for each muscle function assessment and for washing and personal care.
Also known as: Mineral-infused clothing
Socks and leggings identical in appearance, fabric construction, sizing and packaging to the active garment but manufactured without the mineral infusion. Same issue quantity and wear schedule as the active garment.
Also known as: Sham garment
100 drop jumps performed as 5 sets of 20 repetitions from a standardised box height with standardised landing technique, 10 seconds between jumps and 2 minutes between sets, under one-to-one supervision on Day 1. Used as the experimental model of exercise-induced muscle damage in both arms.
Change in maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVC) force of the knee extensors at 72 hours post-exercise
Peak isometric force of the knee extensors of the dominant limb measured by fixed-frame dynamometry, expressed as a percentage of the participant's pre-exercise baseline value.
Time frame: Pre-exercise baseline and 72 hours post-exercise
Change in maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVC) force of the knee extensors at 0, 24 and 48 hours post-exercise
Peak isometric force of the knee extensors of the dominant limb measured by fixed-frame dynamometry, expressed as a percentage of pre-exercise baseline.
Time frame: Pre-exercise baseline and 0, 24 and 48 hours post-exercise
Change in squat jump peak force
Bilateral peak force during a maximal squat jump measured on a dual force plate system, expressed relative to pre-exercise baseline.
Time frame: Pre-exercise baseline and 0, 24, 48 and 72 hours post-exercise
Change in perceived muscle soreness (delayed onset muscle soreness)
Muscle soreness rated on a 100 mm visual analogue scale (0 mm = no soreness, 100 mm = worst soreness imaginable; higher scores indicate a worse outcome) immediately after a single bodyweight squat to a fixed box height.
Time frame: Pre-exercise baseline and 0, 24, 48 and 72 hours post-exercise
Garment tolerability: number of participants with garment-related skin reactions or adverse events
Skin under the garment is visually inspected at each visit and any redness, irritation, pressure marking, swelling or broken skin is graded as none, mild, moderate or severe. Garment comfort and tolerability are also reported by participants in the Study Exit Questionnaire.
Time frame: From Day 1 (garment issue) to 72 hours post-exercise
Blinding integrity: proportion of participants correctly identifying their allocated garment
Participants are asked in the Study Exit Questionnaire whether they believe they wore the mineral-infused garment, the non-infused garment, or are not sure.
Time frame: 72 hours post-exercise
Change in blood creatine kinase concentration
Creatine kinase (IU/L) measured from finger-prick capillary blood samples analysed by a UKAS-accredited laboratory (Inuvi Health Ltd). Log-transformed for analysis and reported as geometric mean ratios.
Time frame: Pre-exercise baseline and 24, 48 and 72 hours post-exercise
Relationship between total garment wear time and recovery of MVC force at 72 hours
Total garment wear hours across the 72-hour recovery period (from the participant's daily wear log) entered as a continuous covariate, with treatment group and the wear-by-group interaction, in a model of MVC force at 72 hours expressed as a percentage of baseline.
Time frame: Day 1 to 72 hours post-exercise
Plan to share: No — There is no plan to make individual participant data publicly available. A de-identified dataset is provided to the study funder at the end of the study, and summary results will be posted to ClinicalTrials.gov.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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