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Filed under: Uncategorized
January 31, 2009 • 9:48 pm 0
The Use of Ice in the Treatment of Acute Soft-Tissue Injury A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials
C Bleakle, S McDonough, D MacAuley
Background: There are wide variations in the clinical use of cryotherapy, and guidelines continue to be made on an empirical basis.
Study Design: Systematic review assessing the evidence base for cryotherapy in the treatment of acute soft-tissue injuries.
Methods: A computerized literature search, citation tracking, and hand searching were carried out up to April 2002. Eligible studies were randomized-controlled trials describing human subjects recovering from acute soft-tissue injuries and employing a cryotherapy treatment in isolation or in combination with other therapies. Two reviewers independently assessed the validity of included trials using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale.
Results: Twenty-two trials met the inclusion criteria. There was a mean PEDro score of 3.4 out of of 10. There was marginal evidence that ice plus exercise is most effective, after ankle sprain and postsurgery. There was little evidence to suggest that the addition of ice to compression had any significant effect, but this was restricted to treatment of hospital inpatients. Few studies assessed the effectiveness of ice on closed soft-tissue injury, and there was no evidence of an optimal mode or duration of treatment.
Conclusion: Many more high-quality trials are needed to provide evidence-based guidelines in the treatment of acute soft-tissue injuries.
Am J Sports Med January 2004 vol. 32 no. 1 251-261 – abstract
Filed under: Uncategorized
July 21, 2008 • 3:09 pm 0
Effects of leg massage on recovery from high intensity cycling exercise
A Robertson, J Watt, and S Galloway
Background: The effect of massage on recovery from high intensity exercise is debatable. Many studies on massage suffer from methodological flaws such as poor standardisation of previous exercise, lack of dietary control, and inappropriate massage duration. Objective: To examine the effects of leg massage compared with passive recovery on lactate clearance, muscular power output, and fatigue characteristics after repeated high intensity cycling exercise, with the conditions before the intervention controlled and standardised. Methods: Nine male games players participated. They attended the laboratory on two occasions one week apart and at the same time of day. Dietary intake and activity were replicated for the two preceding days on each occasion. After baseline measurement of heart rate and blood lactate concentration, subjects performed a standardised warm up on the cycle ergometer. This was followed by six standardised 30 second high intensity exercise bouts, interspersed with 30 seconds of active recovery. After five minutes of active recovery and either 20 minutes of leg massage or supine passive rest, subjects performed a second standardised warm up and a 30 second Wingate test. Capillary blood samples were drawn at intervals, and heart rate, peak power, mean power, and fatigue index were recorded. Results: There were no significant differences in mean power during the initial high intensity exercise bouts (p = 0.92). No main effect of massage was observed on blood lactate concentration between trials (p = 0.82) or heart rate (p = 0.81). There was no difference in the maximum power (p = 0.75) or mean power (p = 0.66) in the subsequent Wingate test, but a significantly lower fatigue index was observed in the massage trial (p = 0.04; mean (SD) fatigue index 30.2 (4.1)% v 34.2 (3.3)%).
Conclusions: No measurable physiological effects of leg massage compared with passive recovery were observed on recovery from high intensity exercise, but the subsequent effect on fatigue index warrants further investigation.
Filed under: Uncategorized
• 2:54 pm 0
The combined acute effects of massage, rest periods, and body part elevation on resistance exercise performance.
Caruso, JF and Coday, MA
Although massage administered between workouts has been suggested to improve recovery and subsequent performance, its application between bouts of repetitive supramaximal anaerobic efforts within a given workout has received little attention. The purpose of the study compared different forms of very short rest periods administered between resistance exercise sets of individual workouts on subsequent performance. With a within-subjects design methodology, subjects (n = 30) performed three workouts that were identical in terms of the exercises (45[degrees] leg press, prone leg curl, seated shoulder press, standing barbell curl), number of sets, and the resistance employed. For each workout, subjects received one of the following treatments between sets: 1 minute of rest as they stood upright, 30 seconds of rest as they stood upright, or 30 seconds of concurrent massage and body part elevation (MBPE), which entailed petrassage of the exercised limbs in a raised and supported position in an attempt to abate fatigue and enhance recovery from the previous set. Subjects were instructed to perform as many repetitions as possible for each set. For each exercise, two dependent variables were calculated: a total work/elapsed time ratio and the cumulative number of repetitions performed. For each exercise, one-way repeated-measures analysis of variance and Tukey’s post hoc test revealed the following total work/elapsed time results: 1 minute rest <30 seconds’ rest, 30 seconds’ MBPE. For each exercise, cumulative repetition results were as follows: 1 minute rest >30 seconds’ rest, 30 seconds’ MBPE. Results imply that rest period duration exerts more influence on resistance exercise performance than MBPE. Those who seek improved resistance exercise performance should pay particular attention to rest period durations.
Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 22(2):575-582, March 2008.
Filed under: Massage, Recovery massage, Resistance exercises, Uncategorized
