The acute effect of different massage durations on squat jump, countermovement jump and flexibility performance in muay thai athletes

Abstract

Background and Study Aim. Muay thai is a combat sport in which the competitors kick, punch, knee, elbow and growl with their opponents. The strength of the leg muscles can increase the intensity of the kick and its flexibility is a well-known issue for this sport. Determining the most appropriate method for these issues provides important gains to the athletes. One of the methods applied to achieve these gains is acute massage applications. The aim of the study is to evaluate the acute effect of different massage times on squat jump, countermovement jump and flexibility performance.
 Materials and Methods. Twelve healthy male muay thai athletes (age, 19.83± 1.46 years; height, 175.33± 7.91 cm; body mass, 65.16 ±13.36 kg) participated in the study, who exercised three times a week. The study consists of a single group. The study consists of 4 different massage duration protocols. These protocols consist of no massage (NM), five minutes massage (5MMSG), ten minutes massage (10MMSG) and fifteen minutes massage (15MMSG). Counter movement jump, squat jump, sitting and lying flexibility were measured after each massage period, respectively. All protocols were continued on consecutive days.
 Results. There was a significant main effect for flexibility (F = 10,872 ; p = 0.00), countermovement jump (F = 4.719 p=.008) and squat jump (F = 6.262 p=.002) performance. The best flexibility, countermovement jump and squat jump performance detected immediately after 5MMSG was respectively 35,16 ± 6,33; 37,17 ± 4,18 and next, 36,05 ± 4,68.
 Conclusion. As a result, it is recommended that different massage durations are effective in improving physical performance, and 5MMSG before competition is recommended for athletes and coaches to get more performance.