Trial reportJournal of sports science & medicine2018
Effect of Post-Exercise Massage on Passive Muscle Stiffness Measured Using Myotonometry - A Double-Blind Study.
Trial report in Journal of sports science & medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 24 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Comparison of Acute Effect of Manual Lymph Drainage and Swedish Massage on Muscle Fascia Stiffness Applied After Exercise in Healthy Young Women
Comparasion of the Immediate Effect of Myofascial Relaxation Technique and Kinesiology Taping on Biomechanical and Viscoelastic Properties of Plantar Fascia and Plantar Pressure Distribution in Diabetes Patients
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 45 citations in OpenAlex.
- Acute Impact of Cold Compression Therapy Across Diverse Age Groups and Physical Conditioning Status: A Randomized Crossover Study.Journal of sports science & medicine · 2026Trial
- Vibration Rolling, Non-Vibration Rolling, and Static Stretching for Delayed- Onset Muscle Soreness on Physiological Changes and Recovery of Athletic Performance in Runners.Journal of sports science & medicine · 2026Trial
- Mechanisms and Efficacy of Massage Therapy for Post-Exercise Muscle Repair: A Narrative Review.Muscles (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Influence of Posture, Spinal Level, Gender and Muscle Activation on Biomechanical Properties of Lumbar Erector Spinae in Healthy Young Adults.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Observational
- Comparing full-body flywheel eccentric protocols: cluster set vs. traditional training on muscle damage, arterial stiffness, jump performance, grip strength, cognitive, and perceptual responses.Biology of sport · 2026Article
- Is the FIFA 11+ Warm-Up Effective for Inducing Acute Knee Adaptations in Recreational Soccer Players?Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of massage and range of motion exercises on muscle strength and intensive care unit-acquired weakness in Iranian patients with COVID-19: a randomized parallel-controlled trial.Acute and critical care · 2024Article
- Article
- Different time course recovery of muscle edema within the quadriceps femoris and functional performance after single- vs multi-joint exercises.Biology of sport · 2023Article
- The Utility of Myotonometry in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation and Human Performance Programming.Journal of athletic training · 2023Review
- Hamstring muscle architecture and myotonometer measurements in elite professional football players with a prior strained hamstring.Biology of sport · 2023Article
- Effects of two-week machine massage on muscle properties in adolescent wrestlers.Frontiers in physiology · 2023Article
- A randomized controlled clinical trial of the effects of range of motion exercises and massage on muscle strength in critically ill patients.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2022Article
- Feasibility of Using a Portable MyotonPRO Device to Quantify the Elastic Properties of Skeletal Muscle.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2022Article
- Functional versus conventional strength and conditioning programs for back injury prevention in emergency responders.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2022Article
- Changes in Tissue Composition and Load Response After Transtibial Amputation Indicate Biomechanical Adaptation.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2021Observational
- Massage as a Mechanotherapy for Skeletal Muscle.Exercise and sport sciences reviews · 2021Article
- Non-Invasive Biomarkers of Musculoskeletal Health with High Discriminant Ability for Age and Gender.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Article
- The Measurement of Stiffness for Major Muscles with Shear Wave Elastography and Myoton: A Quantitative Analysis Study.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Application of traditional Chinese therapy in sports medicine.Sports medicine and health science · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
It is commonly believed that massage can reduce muscle stiffness and is desirable for recovery from exercise. However, the effect massage on muscle stiffness following eccentric exercises is currently unknown. This study aimed to examine the effect of post-exercise massage on passive muscle stiffness over a five-day period. A randomised cross-over study design was adopted. After 40 minutes of downhill running, 18 male recreational runners had one leg received a 16-minute massage and the contralateral leg received a 16-minute sham ultrasound treatment. Passive stiffness for four leg muscles (rectus femoris, biceps femoris, tibialis anterior, and gastrocnemius) was assessed using myotonometry at baseline, immediately post-run, post-treatment, 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours post-run. A 2 (treatment) × 7 (time) mixed ANOVA was conducted with a robust procedure on the myotonometry data of each leg muscle to examine the effect of treatment on stiffness. Passive stiffness for all muscles changed over time but no treatment effect was found. Stiffness increased at 24 hours post-run and remained elevated from baseline levels for up to 96 hours across all four muscles. Significant treatment × time interaction was only found in the tibialis anterior but no post-hoc differences were identified. Passive stiffness of major leg muscles increased after a bout of unaccustomed eccentric exercise and remained elevated for up to four days post-exercise. Compared with the placebo treatment, post-exercise massage had no beneficial effect in alleviating altered muscle stiffness in major leg muscles.
Indexed as
Identifiers
30479528PMC6243630W2897615085What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.