Influence of vibration on delayed onset of muscle soreness following eccentric exercise

Abstract

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), which may occur after eccentric exercise, may cause some reduction in ability in sport activities. For this reason, several studies have been designed on preventing and controlling DOMS. As vibration training (VT) may improve muscle performance, we designed this study to investigate the effect of VT on controlling and preventing DOMS after eccentric exercise. Methods: Fifty healthy non-athletic volunteers were assigned randomly into two experimental, VT (n = 25) and non-VT (n = 25) groups. A vibrator was used to apply 50 Hz vibration on the left and right quadriceps, hamstring and calf muscles for 1 min in the VT group, while no vibration was applied in the non-VT group. Then, both groups walked downhill on a 10˚declined treadmill at a speed of 4 km/hour. The measurements included the isometric maximum voluntary contraction force (IMVC) of left and right quadriceps muscles, pressure pain threshold (PPT) 5, 10 and 15 cm above the patella and mid-line of the calf muscles of both lower limbs before and the day after treadmill walking. After 24 hours, the serum levels of creatine-kinase (CK), and DOMS level by visual analogue scale were measured. Results: The results showed decreased IMVC force (P = 0.006), reduced PPT (P = 0.0001) and significantly increased mean of DOMS and CK levels in the non-VT group, compared to the VT group (P = 0.001). Conclusion: A comparison by experimental groups indicates that VT before eccentric exercise may prevent and control DOMS. Further studies should be undertaken to ascertain the stability and effectiveness of VT in athletics.

To Compare the Effect of Vibration Therapy and Massage in Prevention of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)

“…Our result is in contrast with the result of some researches [12,26] who show significant difference in MVC in VT and non VT groups [12,26].…”

“…On application of vibration, the motor neuron may become synchronized and result in more force production of the muscle group [30,31]. Vibration may causes motor unit activation, synchronization between muscle spindles, reflexive recruitment of previously inactive motor units which leads to more force production for the exercise [12]. Consequently, distribution of exercise load (contractile stress) over a larger number of active fibers, this prevent muscle damage or less reduction of ROM [17].…”

“…Many research scholar have shown that post exercise vibration [12,17] and massage [20,15] therapy have significant impact on CK level in post-eccentric exercise duration.…”

“…Vibration therapy effectively improve muscle performance which may prevent DOMS through preventing sarcoma disruption [11][12][13]. Massage can reduce the tension on the muscle tendon unit that affects the visco-eleastic component of the tissue leading to an increase in competence of the muscle and improvement of muscular flexibility reducing muscle stiffness and also increasing blood flow [14].…”

“…This lead to increase in background tension and motor unit activity synchronization in the vibrated muscles [23,24] that prevent sarcoma disruption or damage to excitation-contraction coupling [25] which occurs due to eccentric exercise. This preparatory effect leads to less damage to the muscle resulting in less pain perception in post exercise duration [12,13,17,26].…”