New study on self massage shows what happens and why it works.
New study on self massage shows what happens and why it works.
Despite being a multi-whatever-dollars industry, the myofascial release tool shop hasn’t got a great deal of conclusive evidence floating about.
Studies have shown that foam rolling increases blood flow to the muscle, and be useful in helping to warm up pre-workout, but there is limited evidence for what actually happens in terms of range of motion.
This recent study looked at using massage balls to see how range of motion was impacted, using ankle range of motion (dorsiflexion) for study effect.
The study looked at two groups. One used the massage balls prior to stretching and activity, and another did not use massage balls. The study showed increased in range of motion in the group that used the balls, with interestingly, the less flexible middle aged participants having greater benefit from using the massage balls pre-stretch than the younger participants.
Massage your wet bits
This study also looked at changes in fluid dynamics of tissue as a reason as to why this works, whereby more fluid means more passive resistance-ie.less stretchy. This may be a thing, and is big in the fascia research circles, but we are yet to know for sure. It seems to make sense though.
No pain more gain?
Massage balls are great for targeting specific muscle, and great for getting right into insertion points to elicit the greatest possible neurological effect. Possible mechanisms, just like massage in general, are also analgesic. This is like when we get bitten by a bug, rubbing the area desensitises the pain. General foam rolling will elicit this, as well as a ball. This might allow for less pain during a stretch, and make the stretch more tolerable, but I would like to see some sort of comparison here between precise placement of a ball compared to general positioning of a foam roller, and the lasting effect. Analgesic effects are short lasting, and I feel this is a weak mechanism to place your bets on.
Pre-workout strategy
In the study, participants had no reduction in muscle activation or strength following the self massage, which is promising for pre-workout applications. One thing must be noted though.
Stretching doesn’t necessarily reduce strength pre-workout. Despite all the trainers telling us stretching pre-workout kills our gains.
Studies showing this misunderstood principle used stretch durations that are rarely seen in the real world, and even then, it seems to be more a case of explosive movements rather than reductions in “strength. Having said that, this study actually showed an increase in muscle contraction following self massage, which makes its inclusion in pre-workout applications even more beneficial.
This study is a great step forward in understanding the role of self massage tools, and awesome affirmation of what we do in the Not Really Yoga system. In our system we follow a few steps.
*Target the joint
*Targeted self massage
*Active stretching
*Activate the opposing muscle group for neural integration
*Apply the new range of motion to movement