Prior swimming exercise favors muscle recovery in adult female rats after joint immobilization.

[Purpose] To evaluate the efficacy of pre-exercise on immobilization and subsequent recovery of white gastrocnemius (WG) and soleus (SOL) muscles of female rats. [Subjects and Methods] Thirty, 8-month-old, female Wistar rats were randomly and evenly allocated to six groups: sedentary (S); immobilized sedentary (IS); immobilized/rehabilitated sedentary (IRS); trained (T); immobilized trained (IT); and immobilized/rehabilitated trained (IRT). For four months, T, IT and IRT group animals performed swimming exercise (three sessions per week, 60 minutes per session), while S, IS and IRS groups animals remained housed in cages.