Recovery during and after a simulated multi-day tennis tournament: Combining active recovery, stretching, cold-water immersion, and massage interventions.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a mixed-method recovery intervention (MMR) consisting of active recovery, stretching, cold-water immersion, and massage on physical, technical, physiological, and perceptual recovery during and after a five-day simulated tennis tournament. Nine competitive male tennis players (age, 24.6±4.2 years) with national ranking positions (German Tennis Federation) and Universal Tennis Ratings between approximately 11-13 participated in two singles tennis tournaments, which were separated by a three-month washout period. During the tournaments, participants played five two-and-a-half-hour competitive singles tennis match on five consecutive days. For the assignment to one of two groups, athletes were matched into homogeneous pairs according to their ranking. Then, within each pair, the players were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The first group performed MMR during the first tournament, whereas the other group used passive recovery (PAS). During the second tournament, recovery conditions were interchanged. Measures of physical and technical performance as well as physiological and perceptual responses (heart rate, blood lactate concentration, perceived exertion) were recorded during match-play sessions. Furthermore, muscle soreness, perceived recovery state, blood markers, countermovement jump height (CMJ), and repeated sprint ability (RSA) were determined before, during, and after the five-day tournament periods. Results showed significant changes over time (P < 0.05) in muscle soreness, perceived recovery state, creatine kinase, c-reactive protein, insulin-like growth factor 1, and countermovement jump height. However, no significant differences or recovery strategy x time interactions were noted either for tennis-specific performance (e.g. number of total points won) or any other of the measured parameters between MMR and PAS (P > 0.05). In conclusion, the repeated use of MMR during and after a five-day tennis tournament did not affect match performance, match load, or recovery from repeated days of tennis match play.

An acute session of roller massage prolongs voluntary torque development and diminishes evoked pain.

INTRODUCTION: Roller massage (RM) has been reported to reduce pain associated with exercise-induced muscle soreness and increase range of motion without force or activation impairments. The objective was to examine RM effects on evoked pain and contractile properties. METHODS: Twelve men received three sets of 30-s RM at a perceived discomfort level of 7/10 on a visual analogue scale on the ipsilateral (IPSI-R) stimulated plantar flexors (PF), contralateral PF (CONTRA-R), Sham (light rolling on stimulated PF), or Control. At pre-test, post-test, and 5-min post-test, they received evoked maximal twitch, tetanus, and 70% maximal tetanic stimulation, and performed a maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC). Data analysis included perceived pain and contractile properties. RESULTS: The 70% tetanus illustrated significant 9-10% increases in pain perception with Sham and Control at post- and 5-min post-test, respectively (p < 0.01). There was no pain augmentation with IPSI-R and CONTRA-R. There were no main effects or interactions for most contractile properties. However, MVIC force developed in the first 200 ms showed 9.5% (p = 0.1) and 19.1% (p = 0.03) decreases with IPSI-R at post-test and 5-min post-test. CONCLUSION: Data suggest that RM-induced neural inhibition decreased MVIC F200 and nullified the testing-induced increase in evoked pain associated with 70% tetanic stimulation.