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R
E S E A R C H
Massage Decreases
Intensity of Delayed Soreness
Massage significantly
lowered the intensity of soreness experienced in delayed onset muscle
soreness, according to recent research.
"The effects of massage on delayed
onset muscle soreness" was conducted by J.E. Hilbert, G.A.
Sforzo and T. Swensen of the Center for Health Sciences Department
of Exercise and Sport Sciences in Ithaca, New York.
Eighteen volunteers with an average
age of 20 were randomly assigned to either massage or a control
group.
The Profile of Mood States was used
to establish baseline levels of tension-anxiety, depression-dejection,
anger-hostility, vigor-activity, fatigue-inertia and confusion-bewilderment.
Baseline range-of-motion measurements
were recorded as an average of three straight-leg raises. Subjects
then completed eight submaximal and two maximal eccentric contractions
with the right hamstrings at a slow velocity as a warm-up, rested
two minutes, and completed five maximal eccentric contractions with
the right hamstrings. The highest value recorded during these lifts
served as baseline value for peak torque.
Participants also completed the Differential
Descriptor Scale, an assessment of pain that measures both the sensory
and emotional aspects of pain, and gave a blood sample to record the
baseline percentage of neutrophils, an indication of muscle damage,
in their blood.
On a different day, the treatment for
each subject began at 8 a.m. with the previously described warm-up,
followed by 10 maximal eccentric contractions with the right hamstring
to cause muscle damage. After one minute of rest, subjects performed
five more maximal eccentric contractions, from which peak torque
was recorded and labeled as zero hours post exercise.
Participants returned two hours later
and repeated the previous exercise. Afterward, they received either
20 minutes of massage or control treatment, which consisted of 20
minutes of rest.
The massage included five minutes of
effleurage, one minute of tapotement, 12 minutes of petrissage and
two more minutes of effleurage.
After the massage or control session,
subjects completed a Profile of Mood States questionnaire. At six
and 24 hours post exercise, they returned to the lab for evaluation
of mood state, range of motion, peak torque, soreness, and neutrophil
levels. Again at 48 hours they returned to the lab for assessment
of the above factors, except neutrophil levels.
Both the
massage and control groups had significantly higher intensities
of soreness at six, 24 and 48 hours post exercise. However, the
massage group’s intensity of soreness was significantly lower
than the control group’s at 48 hours post exercise.
There were
no significant differences between the massage and control group
for the other factors.
"Although
massage rendered after muscle injury did not alter any physiological
variables, it did lower the intensity of soreness after 48 hours,"
state the study’s authors.
"There
is a growing body of evidence showing that massage lowers intensity
of soreness during [delayed onset muscle soreness]," they concluded.
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Source: Center for Health Sciences. Authors: J.E. Hilbert,
G.A. Sforzo and T. Swensen. Originally published in the British
Journal of Sports Medicine, 2003, Issue 37, pp. 72-75.
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