The Effect of Massage on the Exhausted Aerobic Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage Indicators in Healthy Young Men

Abstract

Background: Muscle damage and soreness caused by intense exercise are problems experienced by sedentary people whose suitable solution is an essential topic in research. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of massage on the response of recovery creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) following exhausted aerobic exercise. Methods: A total of 20 sedentary university male students (26.9 ± 2.7 y, BMI: 23.1 ± 1.6) participated voluntarily in the study. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups of exercise with massage group (mas, n = 10) and a control group (con, n = 10). Subjects run on a treadmill to the point of exhaustion. After that, the group had effleurage and petrissage massage for 20 min. Then, serum CK and LDH were measured, and the results were extracted using analysis of variance with repeated measures and post hoc Bonferroni test at the P < 0.05 level. Results: Both groups significantly increased CK and LDH levels after the exercise session. There was no significant difference between the two groups immediately after the massage intervention (P > 0.05). In addition, there was a significant difference between the two groups 24 and 48 hours after massage in the control (P > 0.05), while there was no significant change in the massage group (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Based on the results, massage intervention prevented the increase of CK and LDH levels at 24 and 48 hours after the exhaustive exercise session, which indicates the beneficial effect of massage.