Fatigue and Recovery in Physical Activity: Implications for Health, Function, and Clinical Practice

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 2 February 2027 | Viewed by 524

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Wroclaw University of Health and Sport Sciences, 51-612 Wroclaw, Poland
Interests: high-intensity interval training; team sports, physical fitness; motor performance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Wroclaw University of Health and Sport Sciences, 51-612 Wroclaw, Poland
Interests: high-intensity interval training, physical fitness; motor performance, endurance; heart rate zones; conditioning activity; isometric; plyometric
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite submissions for the special issue of the journal Healthcare entitled “Fatigue and Recovery in Physical Activity: Implications for Health, Function, and Clinical Practice”.

Fatigue is commonly defined as a reduced ability to sustain physical and cognitive performance and is closely associated with an increased risk of injury. Sudden, rapid, or prolonged increases in exercise-induced loads may lead to fatigue-related alterations in force production, motor control, and movement efficiency. Progressive fatigue, along with tissue damage and microtrauma accumulation, can impair coordination and postural stability, thereby increasing susceptibility to musculoskeletal injuries.

Fatigue and recovery are key determinants of safe and effective participation in physical activity across a wide range of contexts. Beyond sport performance, these processes influence functional capacity, injury risk, and recovery quality in athletes, recreationally active individuals, older adults, and populations engaging in exercise for health promotion or rehabilitation, underscoring their relevance for health-related outcomes and applied practice in healthcare settings. Accurate assessment and monitoring of fatigue-related responses are therefore essential for identifying delayed recovery, optimizing load management, and reducing injury risk.

This Special Issue aims to present original research and reviews addressing assessment approaches and recovery strategies related to fatigue in physical activity, with particular attention to their implications for injury prevention, and long-term physical health in both health-oriented and athletic populations, as well as their practical relevance for health-focused and clinical practice-informed exercise applications

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. All manuscripts will follow standard journal peer-review practices, and those accepted for publication will appear in “Fatigue and Recovery in Physical Activity: Implications for Health, Function, and Clinical Practice”.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Marek Popowczak
Dr. Dawid Koźlenia
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • physical fitness
  • fatigue
  • injury
  • recovery
  • motor ability
  • functional performance
  • training

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

16 pages, 1976 KB  
Article
Age-Related Differences in Ocular and Cardiovascular Responses and Recovery After Graded Motor–Cognitive Physical Activity
by Teresa Zwierko, María Dolores Morenas-Aguilar, Wojciech Lubiński, Krystian Panek, Sonja Himmel, Thorben Hülsdünker and Jesús Vera
Healthcare 2026, 14(10), 1290; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare14101290 - 9 May 2026
Viewed by 282
Abstract
Background/Objectives: This study examined age-related differences in ocular and cardiovascular responses to graded motor–cognitive task complexity in young and older adults. Methods: Forty-three healthy adults participated, including 21 young adults (27.1 ± 7.7 years) and 22 older adults (63.1 ± 7.8 years). Participants [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: This study examined age-related differences in ocular and cardiovascular responses to graded motor–cognitive task complexity in young and older adults. Methods: Forty-three healthy adults participated, including 21 young adults (27.1 ± 7.7 years) and 22 older adults (63.1 ± 7.8 years). Participants completed three tasks of progressively increasing motor–cognitive complexity. Intraocular pressure (IOP), ocular perfusion pressure (OPP), blood pressure, and heart rate were measured at baseline, after each task block, and at a post-task recovery assessment. Results: Significant condition effects were found for IOP (p = 0.012, η2p = 0.08), OPP (p < 0.001, η2p = 0.76), systolic blood pressure (p < 0.001, η2p = 0.51), and relative heart rate (p < 0.001, η2p = 0.40). Condition × group interactions were significant for IOP (p = 0.004, η2p = 0.09), OPP (p = 0.002, η2p = 0.10), and systolic blood pressure (p = 0.003, η2p = 0.11). Post hoc analyses showed that young adults exhibited a decrease in IOP from the first task block to recovery (p = 0.011, d = 0.35), whereas older adults showed a return toward baseline values. Relative heart rate was consistently higher in older adults across the protocol (p < 0.001, η2p = 0.29). Conclusions: Increasing motor–cognitive task complexity elicited progressive ocular and cardiovascular responses. The findings suggest that aging may influence the pattern of physiological adaptation to graded motor–cognitive load, particularly during early recovery. Concurrent assessment of ocular and cardiovascular measures may help characterize these response patterns. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop