Abstract
Delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) can be induced by lengthening contraction (LC); it can be characterized by tenderness and movement-related pain in the exercised muscle. Manual therapy (MT), including compression of exercised muscles, is widely used as physical rehabilitation to reduce pain and promote functional recovery. Although MT is beneficial for reducing musculoskeletal pain (i.e. DOMS), the physiological mechanisms of MT remain unclear. In the present study, we first developed an animal model of MT in DOMS; LC was applied to the rat gastrocnemius muscle under anesthesia, which induced mechanical hyperalgesia 2–4 days after LC. MT (manual compression) ameliorated mechanical hyperalgesia. Then, we used capillary electrophoresis time-of-flight mass spectroscopy (CE-TOFMS) to investigate early effects of MT on the metabolite profiles of the muscle experiencing DOMS. The rats were divided into the following three groups; (1) normal controls, (2) rats with LC application (LC group), and (3) rats undergoing MT after LC (LC + MT group). According to the CE-TOFMS analysis, a total of 171 metabolites were detected among the three groups, and 19 of these metabolites were significant among the groups. Furthermore, the concentrations of eight metabolites, including branched-chain amino acids, carnitine, and malic acid, were significantly different between the LC + MT and LC groups. The results suggest that MT significantly altered metabolite profiles in DOMS. According to our findings and previous data regarding metabolites in mitochondrial metabolism, the ameliorative effects of MT might be mediated partly through alterations in metabolites associated with mitochondrial respiration.
Highlights
Manual therapy (MT), such as massage, is a type of complementary and alternative medical treatment that has been widely accepted as effective especially for musculoskeletal pain (Barnes et al 2008; Nelson 2013)
delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) can be induced by lengthening contractions (LC; contraction during muscle stretch, often called “eccentric contraction”); it is characterized by tenderness and movement-related pain in the exercised muscle
The withdrawal thresholds of the rats with or without MT after LC were assessed daily to analyze the effects of MT on DOMS of the rat gastrocnemius muscle (Fig. 3)
Summary
Manual therapy (MT), such as massage, is a type of complementary and alternative medical treatment that has been widely accepted as effective especially for musculoskeletal pain (Barnes et al 2008; Nelson 2013). Excessive muscle use (i.e. overwork) or unaccustomed exercise usually leads to muscle pain expressed discomfort or soreness, called delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) (Armstrong 1984). DOMS can be induced by lengthening contractions (LC; contraction during muscle stretch, often called “eccentric contraction”); it is characterized by tenderness and movement-related pain in the exercised muscle. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American Physiological Society and The Physiological Society.
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