title: An acute session of roller massage prolongs voluntary torque development and diminishes evoked pain.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Roller massage (RM) has been reported to reduce pain associated with exercise-induced muscle soreness and increase range of motion without force or activation impairments. The objective was to examine RM effects on evoked pain and contractile properties.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve men received three sets of 30-s RM at a perceived discomfort level of 7/10 on a visual analogue scale on the ipsilateral (IPSI-R) stimulated plantar flexors (PF), contralateral PF (CONTRA-R), Sham (light rolling on stimulated PF), or Control. At pre-test, post-test, and 5-min post-test, they received evoked maximal twitch, tetanus, and 70% maximal tetanic stimulation, and performed a maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC). Data analysis included perceived pain and contractile properties.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 70% tetanus illustrated significant 9-10% increases in pain perception with Sham and Control at post- and 5-min post-test, respectively (p < 0.01). There was no pain augmentation with IPSI-R and CONTRA-R. There were no main effects or interactions for most contractile properties. However, MVIC force developed in the first 200 ms showed 9.5% (p = 0.1) and 19.1% (p = 0.03) decreases with IPSI-R at post-test and 5-min post-test.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Data suggest that RM-induced neural inhibition decreased MVIC F200 and nullified the testing-induced increase in evoked pain associated with 70% tetanic stimulation.
authors.affiliation: Memorial University of Newfoundland, School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, St. John's, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada.
authors.forename: Mark Tyler
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Cavanaugh
authors.affiliation: Memorial University of Newfoundland, School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, St. John's, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Döweling
authors.affiliation: Memorial University of Newfoundland, School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, St. John's, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada.
authors.forename: James Douglas
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: Memorial University of Newfoundland, School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, St. John's, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada.
authors.forename: Patrick John
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Quigley
authors.affiliation: Memorial University of Newfoundland, School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, St. John's, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada.
authors.forename: Daniel David
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Hodgson
authors.affiliation: Memorial University of Newfoundland, School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, St. John's, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada.
authors.forename: Joseph H D
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Whitten
authors.affiliation: Memorial University of Newfoundland, School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, St. John's, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada.
authors.forename: Jonathan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.affiliation: Memorial University of Newfoundland, School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, St. John's, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada.
authors.forename: Saied Jalal
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Aboodarda
authors.affiliation: Memorial University of Newfoundland, School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, St. John's, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada. dbehm@mun.ca.
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Behm
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D007537:Isometric Contraction; D008297:Male; D008405:Massage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology*; D063806:Myalgia / Q000628:therapy*; D009433:Neural Inhibition; D011897:Random Allocation; D019415:Torque
keywords: Foam roller; Massage; Muscle twitch; Tetanus; Visual analogue scale