Stroiney, DA, Mokris, RL, Hanna, GR, and Ranney, JD. Examination of self-myofascial release vs. instrument-assisted soft-tissue mobilization techniques on vertical and horizontal power in recreational athletes. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2018-This study examined whether pre-exercise self-myofascial release (SMR) and instrument-assisted soft-tissue mobilization (IASTM) would improve performance on measures of vertical jump height and 40-yd sprint time. Differences in perceived pain levels were also examined. Forty-nine college students volunteered for the study and were randomly assigned to receive either IASTM via Tècnica Gavilàn PTB or SMR via The Stick before performance assessments. After the massage intervention, subjects rated their level of perceived pain using a visual analog scale. An independent t test was used to analyze differences in perceived pain levels between the 2 massage interventions. A 2 × 2 analyses of covariance analyzed differences between sex and the 2 massage interventions. There was no interaction (p > 0.05) between the massage intervention and sex for both the vertical jump and 40-yd sprint tests. There was a significant main effect for vertical jump and SMR (p = 0.04). Sex also had a significant main effect for both the vertical jump (p = 0.04) and the 40-yd sprint (p = 0.02). There were no significant differences between massage interventions for the 40-yd sprint times (p = 0.73). There were no significant differences in perceived pain (t(49) = -1.60, p > 0.05). The use of SMR before exercise may improve vertical jump height in recreational athletes. Pain should not be a factor when choosing massage interventions for athletes because IASTM was not perceived to be more painful than SMR. Self-myofascial release and IASTM did not enhance sprinting performance in this study.
Self-myofascial release (SMR) is an ergogenic aid which has grown in popularity with endurance runners. SMR uses an instrument to provide soft tissue mobilization which releases adhesions in the fascial tissue. There has been a limited amount of research as to whether SMR tools can improve the physiological parameters of running performance when SMR is used prior to an endurance event. PURPOSE: To examine changes in the physiological parameters of running performance when self-myofascial release was used prior to a submaximal run. METHODS: A total of 16 male recreational runners, between the ages of 18 and 55 volunteered for the study. The subjects were required to have completed a running event equaling a 10K or longer in the past 12 months as well as achieving a peak oxygen consumption of 45 ml · min-1 · kg-1. The subjects took part in two 40 min treadmill runs at 75% of their VO 2peak , one session used a SMR kit prior to the run while the other session required subjects to rest for 20 minutes. Prior to and during the run measurements of heart rate, blood lactate concentration, ventilatory efficiency, RPE, and running velocity were assessed. A two level repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the dependent variables of heart rate, ventilatory efficiency, lactate and rate of perceived exertion. A paired samples t-test was used to analyze the dependent variable of running velocity at 75% of VO 2peak . RESULTS : There was no interaction or treatment effect (p > .05) when SMR was used prior to the 40 min treadmill run for heart rate (p = .93), ventilatory efficiency (p = .36) and RPE (p = .37). Lactate also did not have an interaction or treatment effect (p > .05) when SMR was used prior to the 40 min run (p = .06). The subjects were kept at 75% of their VO 2peak for 40 min and the velocity at which the subject ran was averaged over the 40 min. The mean velocity for the run with no SMR was 12.47 km/hr ± 1.70. The mean velocity for the run with SMR was 12.57 km/hr ± 1.69. No significant differences existed between the two running bouts (t(15) = -.838, p > .05). CONCLUSION: No improvements in the physiological parameters of running performance were found, however there was also no decrease in these physiological parameters suggesting that the use of SMR prior to running does not hinder performance.
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