Effect of pre-exercise massage on exercise-induced muscle injury in sled dogs

Previous necropsy studies have shown that up to 60% of sled dogs competing in endurance sled dog races have areas of muscle damage. Human athletes and trainers have maintained a strong belief, based mostly on personal experiences, that massage can be effective for pre-race preparation and expedited recovery between consecutive events. We proposed that massage could lessen the degree of creatine phosphokinase (CPK) release when utilised prior to endurance activities. A randomised crossover study was performed using minimally conditioned sled dogs from a sled dog racing kennel. Each dog in the treatment group received a 14 min massage immediately prior to controlled endurance exercise. The pre-exercise CPK activity was 64 +/- 11 IU/l (mean +/- standard deviation). The difference between pre-exercise CPK and post-exercise CPK for both groups was expressed as delta CPK. The delta CPK for the massage group was 62 +/- 22 IU/l and 74 +/- 55 IU/l for the control group. There was no significant change in concentration of CPK between pre-and post-exercise in the treatment and control group (P=0.2282). The lack of a significant difference between the control and massage group suggests that pre-exercise massage may not reduce the severity of exercise-induced muscle damage.