ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana - Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2019 April;178(4):203-9

DOI: 10.23736/S0393-3660.18.03753-1

Copyright © 2018 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Acute foam rolling on quadriceps performance and short-term recovery from fatigue

Govindasamy BALASEKARAN ¹ ✉, Jolene LIM ¹, Visvasuresh V. GOVINDASWAMY ², Wayne FOO ¹, Yew C. NG ¹

¹ Human Bioenergetics Laboratory, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore; ² Concordia University Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of acute foam rolling on quadriceps performance and short-term recovery from exercise-induced fatigue.
METHODS: Ten recreationally active, right leg dominant, male university students participated in a randomized, counterbalanced, crossover study that was held over three weeks. Maximal Voluntary Contraction (MVC) pretest, fatigue inducing protocol and MVC posttests were conducted. Foam rolling (FR) and Control (CON) intervention took place before each MVC test. In FR, the hamstrings, iliotibial band, and quadriceps muscles were rolled for 1 minute per set, twice, with a 30 second rest between sets and muscle groups for 8.5 minutes, while the CON sat on a chair for 8.5 minutes.
RESULTS: There were no significant differences between FR and CON for concentric (P=0.356) and eccentric (P=0.067) MVC, between pre- and post-MVC for concentric (P=0.857) and eccentric (P=0.370), and no significant interaction between conditions and time for MVC performances (concentric: P=0.986; eccentric: P=0.635). Posttest MVC decreased by 1.49% (concentric) and 3.46% (eccentric) in FR, and 1.43% (concentric) and 1.17% (eccentric) in CON. No significant differences were also found between conditions for muscle soreness, fatigue, and rate of perceived exertion during MVC pretest, after fatigue protocol, and during MVC posttest.
CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that acute foam rolling does not significantly affect isokinetic MVC performance or improve short-term recovery of fatigue induced quadriceps.

KEY WORDS: Muscle fatigue - Quadriceps muscle - Athletic performance