Effect of Massage on Muscle Damage Response, Fatigue, and Pain Following Taekwondo Training Program Including Kick Exercise

Muscle damage, soreness, and pain are unpleasant experiences that most beginner athletes encounter, thus it is important to find a suitable way to prevent or reduce them. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of massage on the response of muscle damage, fatigue, and pain following kick exercises in beginner taekwondo girls.

A total of 18 players, aged 20-30 years old, were randomly assigned into experimental (massage) and control groups. Both groups performed 3 repetitions of 20 seconds kick exercises with 20 seconds rest between repetitions and the experimental group received 30 minutes of massage. The level of blood creatine kinase and lactate, and the amount of pain index using McGill pain questionnaire were measured at rest, immediately after exercise, immediately after massage, and 2 and 48 hours after exercise. One way ANOVA with repeated measure and independent t-test were used for studying within subjects effects and between subjects effects, respectively.

The level of CK activity increased immediately after exercise and immediately after massage in both experimental and control groups (P = 0.001). However, it decreased 2 hours after exercise in massage group but it still increased in control group. Blood lactate levels were significantly higher at all measuring times compared to rest time in both groups (p<0.05). Blood lactate increased immediately after massage but it decreased 2 hours after exercise so that it was lower than that of control group (p<0.05). Although pain level was significantly higher at all measuring times compared to pre exercise level, between groups comparison showed that after massage, the pain was lower in the experimental group.

The results of the current study showed that kick exercises can cause fatigue and pain and increase the level of creatine kinase and blood lactate, but applying massage after these exercises will decrease the level of these muscular fatigue and pain indices.