Immediate effect of self-myofascial release on hamstring flexibility

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to identify the area with greatest effect using self-myofascial release technique (self-MFR) in the hamstring, suboccipital, and plantar regions. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: Twenty-two adult subjects were evaluated for flexibility and hamstring pain threshold after self-MFR. Based on the superficial back line, the self-MFR application areas were the suboccipital region, hamstring, and plantar regions. Self-MFR was applied to each area using a wooden pole for a total of 4 minutes. Self-MFR was applied for 3 days at the same time of day, which was randomly assigned for each subject. Treatment was applied to one area each day. The sit and reach test (SRT), active range of motion (AROM), and passive ROM (PROM) were used to determine changes in flexibility, and an algometer was used to determine pain threshold. Pre/post-self-MFR effectiveness was tested using a paired t-test. Repeated measurement was used to compare self-MFR effects in the suboccipital, hamstring, and plantar regions. Results: When the self-MFR technique was applied to the 3 areas, the SRT showed significant improvement over baseline (p<0.05). Bilateral AROM and PROM showed significant improvements (p<0.05). When the self-MFR technique was applied to the hamstring, the semimembranosus showed a significant change in pain threshold (p<0.05). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that indirect application based on the Anatomy Trains could be effective for those who need to improve muscle flexibility. Moreover, self-MFR easily alleviates myofascial pain while maintaining flexibility, and can be performed at any time and place.

Effect of vibration vs non-vibration foam rolling techniques on flexibility, dynamic balance and perceived joint stability after fatigue

“…In addition, these findings are similar to those reported by Schroeder et al (2019) who showed an increase of 30.26% when a foam roller protocol was applied on paraspinal and lateral back muscles in healthy young females. Although several authors show flexibility improvements after foam roller application in a fatigued state, considerable variability in the results obtained on lumbar spine flexibility improvements have been reported (Grieve et al, 2015; Jung et al, 2017; Rey et al, 2019; Schroeder et al, 2019). Protocol variations could be responsible for the differences in findings which include pressure exerted by the roller, duration of intervention and speed of application (Dębski, Białas & Gnat, 2019).…”

Can Myofascial Interventions Have a Remote Effect on ROM? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…The initial literature search yielded a total of 29,964 citations, from which 196 were included for further reading. After review of full texts, 188 studies were excluded leaving 8 eligible randomized controlled studies [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] to be included in the review. Figure 1 shows the QUORUM flow diagram, summarizing the selection process and the number of studies excluded at each stage with reasons.…”

The Parameters of Foam Rolling, Self-Myofascial Release Treatment: A Review of the Literature

“…In terms of the number of rolling periods in one session, the studies can be divided into two groups. The first is made up of studies in which the authors used a single rolling set [8,10,16,19,22,24,29,33,38,45,53,55,57,59,68,69,73]. In the other studies, the values 2, 3, 4 and 5 appeared with similar frequency, with three rolling sets being the most commonly chosen option [3,5,15,23,26,35,39,46,57,62].…”

“…As many as 41 authors carried out their studies in one treatment session. In the remaining studies, two [47,48,68] or three [15,33,37,38,57] treatment sessions were used as well. Seven researchers used a longer protocol.…”