Acute Effects of Quick Short - Duration Massage On Vertical Jump; A Crossover Randomised Controlled Trial

Abstract

massage is often performed in various sports settings [2]. Massage can be conducted in either a passive manner by therapists or an active manner by athletes themselves, using specific apparatus, such as a foam roller [3,4]. Main purposes of preperformance massage include preventing injuries, increasing range of motions, decreasing stiffness and soreness and enhancing athletes' strength, endurance and functional performance [5,6]. Proposed rationales for improved strength and functional performance generally involve the following; increasing blood flow to provide more efficient metabolism for muscles [7] and positive psychological effects, such as mood enhancement and increased perceived performance [8].The research evidence regarding the immediate effects of preperformance massage to improve muscle strength and functional performance is equivocal. In fact, some studies demonstrated that massage might inhibit muscle strength and compromise explosive performance, such as sprinting and vertical jump [2,9,10]. In most studies with negative findings regarding the effects of massage on strength and functional performance, massage tends to be long -duration massage (>10 minutes) [2,9,11]. In reality, however, it is often difficult and impractical for therapists working in teams to perform long-duration massage for every athlete before games.