The effect of massage on acceleration and sprint performance in track & field athletes

Purpose: To examine the acute effects of pre-competition massage on acceleration and sprint performance in collegiate track and field athletes. Methods: Seventeen collegiate male (n = 9) and female (N = 8) track and field athletes participated in the study. Athletes were assigned to a counterbalanced, repeated measures designed experiment testing four treatment conditions of a pre-competition massage, dynamic warm-up, combination of a massage and warm-up, and a placebo ultrasound. Results: The reliability between treatments was very high (ICC range: 0.94-0.98) and displayed a high internal consistency (Cronbach alpha = 0.96). Inter-item correlations for treatments were strong at all time intervals (20-m r - 0.74-0.90; 30-m r - 0.87-0.95; 60-m r - 0.88-0.95). There were no significant differences between the four treatments and performance (p = 0.70). Massage decreased 60-meter sprint performance in comparison to the traditional warm-up, although the combination of the massage and warm-up appeared to have no greater difference than the warm-up alone. Conclusions: Massage prior to competition remains questionable due to a lack of effectiveness in improving sprint performance. Further, pre-competition massage may not be more effective as a preevent modality, over a traditional warm-up. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.