Selective Effects of Manual Massage and Foam Rolling on Perceived Recovery and Performance: Current Knowledge and Future Directions Toward Robotic Massages

Abstract

Manual massage and foam rolling are commonly used by athletes for warm-up and recovery, as well as by healthy individuals for well-being. Manual massage is an ancient practice requiring the intervention of an experienced physiotherapist, while foam rolling is a more recent self-administered technique. These two topics have been largely studied in isolation from each other. In the present review, we first provide a deep quantitative literature analysis to gather the beneficial effects of each technique through an integrative account, as well as their psychometric and neurophysiological evaluations. We then conceptually consider the motor control strategies induced by each type of massage. During manual massage, the person remains passive, lying on the massage table, and receives unanticipated manual pressure by the physiotherapist, hence resulting in a retroactive mode of action control with an ongoing central integration of proprioceptive feedback. In contrast, while performing foam rolling, the person directly exerts pressures through voluntary actions to manipulate the massaging tool, therefore through a predominant proactive mode of action control, where operations of forward and inverse modeling do not require sensory feedback. While these opposite modes of action do not seem to offer any compromise, we then discuss whether technological advances and collaborative robots might reconcile proactive and retroactive modes of action control during a massage, and offer new massage perspectives through a stochastic sensorimotor user experience. This transition faculty, from one mode of control to the other, might definitely represent an innovative conceptual approach in terms of human-machine interactions.

Foam Rolling Elicits Neuronal Relaxation Patterns Distinct from Manual Massage: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Second, MM can be used to benefit a variety of health outcomes (e.g., management of pain symptoms). Eventually, MM can be used as a conditioning technique to promote motor performance and recovery [ 6 , 7 ].…”

“…MM requires a trained physiotherapist, and only one person can be massaged at the same time, which makes MM a difficult intervention to scale [ 7 ]. Additionally, the physiotherapist regulates subtle parameters while performing the massage routine and integrates with real-time patient feedback to adjust his/her gestures.…”

Evaluating the effects of embedded self-massage practice on strength performance: A randomized crossover pilot trial

“…SMR represents a simple and cost-effective conditioning approach, increasingly used as part of warm-up and post-workout recovery routines and, occasionally, embedded within training sessions [6][7][8][9]. Although physiological processes underlying the benefits of SMR remain poorly understood, SMR interventions have practical relevance in actual training contexts compared to static stretching [1,[10][11][12][13][14]. Pre-workout SMR interventions were associated with increased range of motion (ROM) without hindering forthcoming athletic performances such as jump height or performance across repeated sprints [15][16][17].…”

“…Post-workout, SMR reduced exercise-induced muscle damage indexed from the delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) [18]. However, there is no scientific consensus regarding optimal practice guidelines for embedded SMR and its acute effects on strength performance [6,8,9,12,14].…”

Acute Comparative Effect of Foam Rolling and Static Stretching on Range of Motion in Rowers

“…However, foam rolling and manual massages seem to influence the manipulated muscle more directly. Moreover, it appears to increase motor recovery with similar effects during warm-up and post-exercise [7]. Foam rolling is a self-myofascial release method that consists of manual therapy where the subject applies force on a foam roller [5].…”