Comparison of massage, static stretching and combination of massage and stretching methods in lower limb muscle on flexibility, anaerobic power and agility tests performance in soccer players

The purpose of the study was comparing the three methods including massage، static stretching and combination of massage and stretching in lower limb muscle on flexibility، power and agility tests performance in soccer players. 45 soccer players contributed in this semi-experimental study. The players were randomly assign in three groups; massage (15 cases)، stretching (15 cases) and a combination of massage and stretching group (15 cases). They warmed up themselves by 5-min jogging before test. Massage، static stretching and combination of massage and stretching were performed on lower limbs for 15 min. Each test was performed three times and the best record was accepted. Flexibility، power and agility of all players were evaluated before and after the interventions. In order to compare the effect of these three protocols، correlated t-test and analysis of variance were used and p