Randomized Controlled Trial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. Jan 18, 2020; 11(1): 47-56
Published online Jan 18, 2020. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v11.i1.47
Effect of deep transverse friction massage vs stretching on football players’ performance
Mohammed Ali Fakhro, Hussein Chahine, Hassan Srour, Kasim Hijazi
Mohammed Ali Fakhro, Hussein Chahine, Hassan Srour, Kasim Hijazi, Faculty of Public Health, Department of Physical Therapy, Lebanese German University, Sahel Alma, Jounieh 00961, Keserwan, Lebanon
Author contributions: Fakhro MA, Chahine H, Srour H, and Hijazi K contributed to concept and study designing; Srour H, and Hijazi K took part in trial coordination and monitoring; Chahine H, Srour H, and Hijazi K collected the data and their management; Fakhro MA, contributed to the statistical analyses, drafted the manuscript and made the final approval of the version to be published; Fakhro MA, and Chahine H, analyzed and interpreted the data.
Institutional review board statement: The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board (Ref No.:1EC/2017) of the Lebanese German University in Sahel Alma, Jounieh, Keserwan, Lebanon.
Clinical trial registration statement: This trial was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov under the trial registration number (NCT03540888).
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors certify that they have no affiliations with or financial involvement in any organization or entity with a direct financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in the article.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mohammed Ali Fakhro, PT, DPT, Coordinator, Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Public Health, Lebanese German University, Sahel Alma, P.O Box 206, Jounieh 00961, Keserwan, Lebanon. m.fakhro@lgu.edu.lb
Received: February 3, 2019
Peer-review started: February 11, 2019
First decision: June 7, 2019
Revised: July 4, 2019
Accepted: November 6, 2019
Article in press: November 6, 2019
Published online: January 18, 2020
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Flexibility, agility and muscle strength are key factors to either win or lose a game. Recently the effect of a new technique, deep transverse friction massage (DTFM) on muscle extensibility as compared to traditional stretching techniques has been examined.

AIM

To compare the effect of DTFM vs static and dynamic stretching techniques on the hamstring’s extensibility, agility, and strength amongst Lebanese and Syrian football players. Recording the incidence of non-contact hamstring muscle injury was a secondary objective.

METHODS

This study is a single-blinded prospective longitudinal randomized controlled trial. The experiment took place over a period of four weeks. Football players were randomized into three intervention groups (static stretching; dynamic stretching; DTFM). Participants of each group were followed-up carefully by assessors during their intervention sessions three times per week, for a total of 12 sessions and during the data collection. Extensibility, agility, and strength were compared between intervention groups at (baseline; acute; and chronic) phases. Straight leg raise and 1 repetition maximum tests were used to measure the dominant leg hamstring muscle extensibility and maximal strength respectively. T-drill test was used to assess the lower extremities agility.

RESULTS

Of 103 Lebanese and Syrian male football players aged between 18 and 35 were sampled from Damascus-Syria and South of Lebanon to participate in this study. Between-groups measures of acute strength (P = 0.011) and chronic extensibility (P = 0.000) solely showed a significant difference, and the static group showed to be superior as compared to the other groups. No loss to follow-up or protocol violation was recorded.

CONCLUSION

Static stretching is showing to be superior to the other techniques used, regarding gaining long-term extensibility and short-term maximal muscle strength. In addition, DTFM showed improvements but did not outweigh the effects on footballers’ performance when comparing it to static and dynamic techniques. Finally, no difference between the interventions is recorded regarding the rate of muscle injuries incidence.

Keywords: Football, Massage, Prevention, Athletic injuries, Sports injury, Static stretching, Dynamic stretching

Core tip: Static stretching may be used for male football players aged between 18 and 35 for 30 min before exercises for its positive effect on short-term muscle strength and after exercises for its beneficial effect on long-term extensibility.