Cold-Water Immersion and Sports Massage Can Improve Pain Sensation but Not Functionality in Athletes with Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of cold-water immersion (CWI) and sports massage on delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) in amateur athletes. Sixty male amateur athletes were randomised into four equal groups (n = 15) receiving either CWI, sports massage, their combination, or served as controls after applying plyometric training to their lower extremities. The main outcomes measures were pain, exertion, rectus femoris perimeter, knee flexion range of motion, knee extensors isometric strength and serum creatine phosphokinase (CPK) levels examined before the plyometric training, immediately after the treatment, and 24, 48 and 72 h post exercise. We observed no significant differences between study groups in the most tested variables. CWI improved pain compared to the combined application of CWI and sports massage, and the control group both on the second and third day post exercise. Sports massage combined with CWI also led to a significant reduction in pain sensation compared to the control group. In conclusion the treatment interventions used were effective in reducing pain but were unable to affect other important adaptations of DOMS. Based on the above, sports scientists should reconsider the wide use of these interventions as a recovery strategy for athletes with DOMS.

Acute massage stimulates parasympathetic activation after a single exhaustive muscle contraction exercise.

BACKGROUND: Heart rate variability (HRV) is one of the tools that can assess autonomic activities during exercise or recovery. Massage is an often-used recovery method with varying recovery outcome. This study was to investigate the effect of lower limb massage on recovery HRV following repeated knee flexion and extension exercise-to-exhaustion. METHODS: Nine healthy men aged between 20 and 30 years old were recruited and randomly assigned to a control group (n = 5) and massage group (n = 4). The HRV spectral analysis was performed at baseline, pre-exercise, post-exercise and immediately post-intervention. For intervention, the participants in the massage group received a 10-min massage on the quadriceps and hamstring muscles of the dominant leg whereas the control group received none. The HRV was presented as low-frequency (LF) peak (Hz), power (ms2), power (normalised unit; n.u.) and high-frequency (HF), peak (Hz), power (ms2), power (n.u.) as well as LF/HF ratio. RESULTS: Spectral power analysis showed there were no significant differences in the LF indices and LF/HF ratio with massage. HRV normalisation data revealed a within-subject difference with massage. CONCLUSIONS: Massage caused an immediate parasympathetic activation during recovery from a single exhaustive muscle contraction exercise. Hence, massage may be used to potentiate recovery.

Effects of Sports Massage on the Physiological and Mental Health of College Students Participating in a 7-Week Intermittent Exercises Program.

The purpose of the research is to analyze the improvement in the physical and mental health of college students after intermittent exercises are performed by massage. The present study employed a mixed research method. An experimental study was conducted to analyze the current status of the volunteers' sports performance and body composition, and then a questionnaire was designed for the subjects' physical and mental health. The data were then analyzed using SPSS 26.0 software for statistical analysis such as t-test and ANOVA. The subjects were then interviewed to collect their opinions on the study results, and finally, the results were explored by multivariate analysis. The study found that intermittent exercise can help university students develop physical fitness and performance, improve body composition, and regulate physical and mental health. The combination of intermittent exercise with sports massages further enhanced the performance of sit-ups and standing long jump, improve blood pressure, BMI, and self-confidence, as well as reducing suicidal tendencies (experimental group > control group). However, intermittent exercise participants still experienced fatigue, headache, emotional loss, and fear of depression, and the addition of sports massage did not significantly improve flexibility and cardiorespiratory endurance (control group > experimental group).

Does the Therapist's Sex Affect the Psychological Effects of Sports Massage?-A Quasi-Experimental Study.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the influence of the sex of the therapist and of the athlete on the athlete's current emotional state after a sports massage. The assumption was that the effect of a massage on the current mood was independent of the sex of the therapists or athletes. Background: Sports massages are an integral part of the support given to athletes during training or competition and are a commonly used method for promoting athletes' physical and mental recovery. Few studies have measured the mental characteristics or even the nonspecific effects of sports massages. Sexual attraction or dislike are among the nonspecific effects of a treatment. Materials and methods: One hundred and sixty-eight high-performance male and female amateur athletes received a sports massage from 15 male and female trained therapists. The current emotional state of the athletes was measured before and after intervention using the BSKE-EA17 adjective scale, whose items can be assigned to five categories of the current emotional state. ANOVAs (analysis of covariances) were carried out to calculate the interactions between the sexes. Cohen's d for similar group sizes and similar group variances were determined. Results: Neither the sex of the therapist nor the sex of the athlete had any influence on the mental effect of a sports massage. The only exception was when male athletes were treated by female therapists, where an increase in "elevated mood" was observed. Sports massages resulted in an increase in the responses in the categories "elevated mood" (d = 1.1) and "level of activation" (d = 0.3) and a decrease in the responses for "low mood" (d = 0.3), "level of deactivation" (d = 0.6) and "level of excitation" after the massage compared to before the massage (d = 0.9). Conclusions: Sports massages appear to increase the positive dimensions of the athletes' current emotional state and reduce the negative dimensions. The self-reported mood changes from before the massage to after the massage were not influenced by other prognostic variables, including wait time, age of the athlete or the duration of the run. The results suggest that the specific effects of sports massages on the mental status are supported. Disregarding the aspect of the therapists' sex, sports officials, trainers and athletes therefore can be more independent in the personnel planning of sports therapists.

Masaje deportivo, una opción en la preparación del futbolista élite / Sport massage, an option in the preparation of the elite soccer player

Resumen Para el futuro incremento de los logros deportivos, se hace necesaria una estructura del proceso de entrenamiento y debe utilizarse todo un arsenal de medios, dirigidos a elevar la capacidad de trabajo de los deportistas. El masaje deportivo constituye uno de los medios más eficaces para lograr estos objetivos, como parte del entrenamiento, además, tiene gran importancia como medio para lograr el perfeccionamiento físico del deportista, alcanzar y mantener por más tiempo la forma deportiva. Por esta razón se propone como un medio en la preparación de los jugadores de fútbol. Para la realización de este trabajo, el autor se plantea como objetivo: proponer una planificación para la aplicación del masaje deportivo en la preparación de los jugadores de un equipo de fútbol de primera categoría. Se utilizaron métodos teóricos como: histórico-lógico, análisis y síntesis, análisis de documentos, modelación y sistémico estructural y métodos empíricos como: la encuesta y la estadística de análisis porcentual. Se seleccionó una población de tres entrenadores, un masajista, un médico deportivo y 17 jugadores de un equipo de fútbol de primera categoría para conocer los criterios, desde el punto de vista teórico como práctico, que tienen sobre el masaje deportivo como medio de preparación del equipo.

Abstract For the future increase of the sport achievements it becomes necessary a structure of the process of training and an entire set of means should be used, aimed at improving the capacity of the sportsmen's work. The sport massage constitutes one of the most effective means to achieve these objectives, as a part of training having great importance as means to achieve the sportsman's physical improvement, to reach and to keep for longer the sport body shape. This is mainly the reason which it is intended as a means in the preparation of the soccer players. For the realization of this work the author sets as objective: to propose a planning for the application of the sport massage in the preparation of the players of a team of soccer of first category. Theoretical methods were used as: historical-logical, analysis and synthesis, analysis of documents, modeling, systemic structural, and empiric methods as the survey, as well as the statistic of percentage analysis. A population of three coaches, a masagist, a sports doctor and 17 players from a first class football team were selected to know the criteria, from the theoretical and practical point of view, that they have on sports massage as a means of preparation of the team.

Comparing the Effects of Rest and Massage on Return to Homeostasis Following Submaximal Aerobic Exercise: a Case Study.

INTRODUCTION: Postexercise massage can be used to help promote recovery from exercise on the cellular level, as well as systemically by increasing parasympathetic activity. No studies to date have been done to assess the effects of massage on postexercise metabolic changes, including excess postexercise oxygen consumption (EPOC). The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of massage recovery and resting recovery on a subject's heart rate variability and selected metabolic effects following a submaximal treadmill exercise session. METHODS: One healthy 24-year-old female subject performed 30 minutes of submaximal treadmill exercise prior to resting or massage recovery sessions. Metabolic data were collected throughout the exercise sessions and at three 10 minute intervals postexercise. Heart rate variability was evaluated for 10 minutes after each of two 30-minute recovery sessions, either resting or massage. RESULTS: Heart rate returned to below resting levels (73 bpm) with 30 and 60 minutes of massage recovery (72 bpm and 63 bpm, respectively) compared to 30 and 60 minutes of resting recovery (77 bpm and 74 bpm, respectively). Heart rate variability data showed a more immediate shift to the parasympathetic state following 30 minutes of massage (1.152 LF/HF ratio) versus the 30-minute resting recovery (6.91 LF/HF ratio). It took 60 minutes of resting recovery to reach similar heart rate variability levels (1.216 LF/HF) found after 30 minutes of massage. Ventilations after 30 minutes of massage recovery averaged 7.1 bpm compared to 17.9 bpm after 30 minutes of resting recovery. CONCLUSIONS: No differences in EPOC were observed through either the resting or massage recovery based on the metabolic data collected. Massage was used to help the subject shift into parasympathetic activity more quickly than rest alone following a submaximal exercise session.