Sports Massage: How does it Affect Reducing Lactic Acid Levels in Athletes?

Abstract

Increased lactic acid levels in the blood and muscles during high-intensity training and sports competitions cause muscles to get fatigued, which affects physical performance and is made worse by a greater risk of injury. Therefore, a solution is needed. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of sports massage on reducing lactic acid levels in athletes. This research is a true-experimental design with a pretest-post-test control group design. A total of 24 football athletes from the Faculty of Sports Science, Padang State University, Indonesia were used as research samples. Sports massage treatment was given after the athlete did a 1.500 meter run (experimental) and without sports massage (control). Sports massage is given to the back, back of the neck, shoulders, upper extremities, and lower extremities. The techniques used include effleurage, petrissage, shaking, tapotement, walken, vibration, and skin-rolling. Each was given 6 repetitions. Then, accutrendlactacid was used to measure lactic acid levels. Data were analyzed using a t-test. The results showed that lactic acid levels in both groups increased after running 1500 meters. However, after being given a sports massage in the experimental group, lactic acid levels decreased by 1.94 mmol/L. Meanwhile, the lactic acid level in the control group was 5.43 mmol/L. The difference in mean lactic acid levels from the post-test data of the two groups showed a significant result of 6.16 mmol/L (p < 0.05). In conclusion, giving sports massage after exercise and sports competition (high intensity) is very effective in reducing lactic acid levels in athletes. The results of this study are expected to be useful for coaches, sports health teams, and athletes to reduce lactic acid levels so that they can improve performance during exercise (sports competition), and minimize the occurrence of a high risk of injury.