Establishment of an animal model for delayed-onset muscle soreness after high-intensity eccentric exercise and its application for investigating the efficacy of low-load eccentric training

Muscle tenderness after high-intensity eccentric exercise was evaluated by c-fos expression in the dorsal horn of the rat spinal cord. Using this rat model, the present study clarified that the muscle tenderness following high-intensity eccentric exercise is inhibited by prior low-load eccentric training.