Department of Physical Therapy, Namseoul University, 21 Maeju-ri, Sunghwan-eup, Seobuk-Gu, Chonan-Si, 331–707, Republic of Korea
The purpose of this study was to ascertain the effects of self-stretching transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), and functional massage on the recovery of muscle contraction force from muscle fatigue caused by sustained isotonic contraction.
The subjects of this study, 45 healthy students using Primus RS, were divided into three groups of 15 subjects based on the treatment receive: TENS, self-stretching, and functional massage. We observed the shifting pattern of changes in maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) after sustained isotonic contraction caused muscle fatigue in the thigh muscle quadriceps. The two-way ANOVA was used in order to compare the MVIC between groups and time.
The differences between the groups did not appear to be significant. However, MVICs were greatly increased in all the groups, respectively, after TENS, self-stretching, and functional massage were administered, indicating that each treatment may be effective in aiding the recovery process of muscle fatigue caused by sustained isotonic contraction.
The findings demonstrate that all three techniques examined in this study are effective in recovering the rapid recovery of muscle fatigue after exercise.
transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), self-stretching (SS), functional massage (FM), maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC)
