Mood state response to massage and subsequent exercise performance

A within subjects experimental design (N = 16) was used where participants performed a 30-s Wingate anaerobic cycling test (WAnT) after 30-min rest and after 30-min back massage. Mood State was measured before and after each intervention and after the WAnTs. No significant change in mood was detected following rest or massage. However, WAnT performance was better following massage compared to rest. Mood disturbance increased following the WAnT in both the rest and massage conditions. The results suggest that preperformance massage had no effect on mood state yet seemed to facilitate enhanced WAnT performance. The relationship between massage and anaerobic performance remains unclear, however is almost certainly mediated by preperformance psychological factors other than mood state.