Effects of Massage on the Short-term Post-exercise Recovery

Objectives: To analyze the behavior of the effects of massage on clinical, metabolic and functional variables in different scenarios: i) under no stress or massage application; ii) after massage; iii) after exhaustion protocol; iv) after the immediate application of post-exercise massage; v) after application of the massage 1hour post-exercise. Method: This was a randomized cross-over clinical trial in which 24 participants had their clinical, functional and metabolic outcome data analyzed under different scenarios: i) control scenario (CO): basal condition (under no stress or massage application); ii) Massage (MA): after receiving the massage; iii) Exhaustion protocol (PE): after protocol of exhaustion; iv) PE + immediate massage (EMI): after the protocol of exhaustion followed immediately by massage; iv) PE + delayed massage (EMT): after the protocol of exhaustion and massage received 1h after its end. The exhaustion protocol used consisted of 10 series of 10 jumps and one Wingate test and the manual massage protocol was composed of 12 minutes of massage, 3 minutes for the anterior region of the thigh of each lower limb and 6 minutes to the dorsal trunk. The variables studied were: muscle soreness, perceived recovery, maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC), strength and power in the guided bar, vertical jump and blood lactate concentration \[Lac\]. Measurements. The primary outcome measures will be measured 2h after the start of each stage, and the secondary outcome measures will be measured at specific times during each stage. The primary outcome includes measures of functional performance, and the measures of secondary outcome includes clinical and metabolic variables.