The Effect Of Varying Self-myofascial Release Duration On Subsequent Athletic Performance

Abstract

Self-myofascial release (SMR) treatments appear to enhance joint range of motion (RoM) and restore movement function but the effects of different SMR durations on athletic performance have yet to be examined. PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of different SMR treatment durations (1 minute and 5 minutes) on joint RoM, power, and agility. METHODS: Twenty-four volunteers participated with ankle and knee joint RoM assessed using modified weight-bearing (WBL) and kneeling lunge (KL) tests. Vertical jump (VJ) performance and pro-agility (PA) sprint performance were also examined. All tests were conducted before and immediately after one-minute (SMR_1) and five-minutes (SMR_5) of SMR and immediately following a control (CONTR) condition. SMR was done on the quadriceps and triceps surae muscle groups using a standardized protocol and foam roller. Differences in dependent variables (VJ height, PA run time, WBL distance, KL angle) between treatment groups (SMR_1, SMR_5, CONTR) at two time-points (pre- and post-treatment) were analyzed using a 3 x 2-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Alpha = 0.05. Effect sizes (ES) were calculated to clarify the magnitude of the effect of differences between means from pre- to post-treatment for each treatment condition. RESULTS: KL angle increased following SMR_5 (16.4 %; ES = 0.85) when compared with SMR_1 (12.5 %; ES = 0.58). WBL distance showed little change following SMR treatments and the CONTR condition exhibited little effect on RoM tests. VJ height decreased following SMR_5 (5.1 %; ES = 0.26) but changed little following SMR_1 (0.7 %; ES = 0.03) and CONTR (1.9 %; ES = 0.10) conditions. PA run time improved slightly following SMR_1 (1.1 %) but deteriorated following CONTR (1.2 %) and SMR_5 (0.5 %). Effect size calculations for changes in PA, however, were trivial across all conditions (0.06 – 0.15). CONCLUSION: Extended periods of SMR may be recommended should improvements in joint RoM be required. If power output is a critical requirement of subsequent tasks, prolonged SMR treatment (i.e., 5-min) should be avoided.