Clinical trials show us that using vibration massage significantly reduces post exercise soreness and speeds recovery. This is something you can easily do yourself with a personal use massager. In this article we will show you the best way to do this.
Why you get soreness
What the trials found
Practical application
References
Your muscles are made of microscopic fibres. Strenuous exercise can damage these causing:
This leaves:
The soreness resulting from exercise induced muscle damage is known as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). It typically occurs 24-48 hours after the exercise.
Exercise induced muscle damage typically causes a decreased range of motion (flexibility) and reduced strength. To illustrate this, some of the trials measured the number of repetitions of an exercise a person could before and after the strenuous exercise. Say you could normally do 10 reps. The day after strenuous exercise you might only be able to do 6, then take a few days until you can do 10 again.
We found several trials that tested the use of vibration to help reduce post exercise soreness and speed recovery. The following is a summary of what they found.
All trials found that using vibration significantly reduced post exercise soreness
Those that measured the levels of the unwanted chemicals in the blood found that they were reduced by vibration massage.
As mentioned before, one typically gets a reduction in muscle performance during the recovery phase, and this can be measured by the number of repetitions of an exercise. Vibration massage reduced the decrease in performance, and shortened the time needed to be able to do the normal amount.
As discussed in our article the scientifically proven effects of vibration massage vibration penetrates and has the effects shown in this diagram.
If you use vibration to help reduce post exercise soreness and speed recovery science tells us you may also get the following benefits.
Please note that this is for general information only. Please discuss your specific needs with a professional familiar with your needs.
We have a separate article on how to choose a massager. However, it is very important that this be a genuine vibration massager rather than a percussion massager. As discussed in our article Are massage guns a gimmick marketing claims about these are highly dubious and deceptive while the reality is that they are far less effective and more dangerous.
Please check out our article How to use a hand held massager. Both our General Purpose Massagers and Ultimate Quad Head Massager have speed ranges of approximately 30-60 Hz. This means to get approximately 50 Hz you would set the machines at about 85% of full speed.
In this trial one third of participants had no treatment, one third were given conventional massage, while the third group had their muscle massaged before exercise using a vibrating massager set at 50Hz. The results showed that both conventional massage and the vibration massage resulted in significantly lower DOMS, with those receiving vibration massage recovering faster than those who received conventional massage. They also showed that the group receiving the vibration massage had significantly less residual Lactic Acid.
In this trial one group received vibration massage of 50Hz to the centre of the muscle, while the comparison group received no vibration. There was a significant decrease in the soreness of those who received vibration when compared to those who received none. Muscles showed a decrease in maximum contraction strength post exercise for both groups, but this decrease was less in those who received vibration.
In this trial one group received a vibration massage of 30-50Hz whole the comparison group received no vibration. The group receiving vibration experienced a significantly lower level of pain.
In this trial one group received vibration massage at 40 Hz while the comparison group received no vibration. Those receiving the vibration experienced significantly less pain over 24-120 hours post exercise.
This trial one group was treated with a vibration pad giving 30-65Hz, for 30 minutes starting 30 minuted after exercising then on days 1,2 3 and 4. From days 2-5 soreness of those receiving the vibration was 18-30% less than those who did not, with soreness disappearing altogether earlier.
It was shown that the application of 50-60 Hz vibration to muscles either prior to exercise or after exercise results in considerably less pain and the presence of considerably less of the resultant blood born chemicals
“Vibration is an effective modality in the field of rehabilitation. Vibration therapy improves muscular strength, power development and kinesthetic awareness, increased flexibility, motor unit synchronisation. Various researches which shows effectiveness of vibration therapy in management of DOMS”
“Vibration therapy before eccentric exercise may prevent and control DOMS”
Shaqufla I, et.al. To compare the effect of vibration therapy and massage in prevention of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) Vol. 8, Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research. 2014. p. 133–6.
Bakhtiary AH, Safavi-Farokhi Z, Aminian-Far A. Influence of vibration on delayed onset of muscle soreness following eccentric exercise. Br J Sports Med. 2007;41(3):145–8.
Kamandani R, Ghazalian F, Ebrahim K, Ghassembaglou N, Shiri Piraghaj M, Khorram A. The Effect of Acute Vibration Training on Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness in Young Non-Athlete Women. Heal Scope. 2015;_
Broadbent S, Rousseau JJ, Thorp RM, Choate SL, Jackson FS, Rowlands DS. Vibration therapy reduces plasma IL6 and muscle soreness after downhill running. Br J Sports Med. 2010;44(12):888–94.
Lau WY, Nosaka K. Effect of vibration treatment on symptoms associated with eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage. Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2011;
Kim J-Y, Kang D-H, Lee J-H, O S-M, Jeon J-K. The effects of pre-exercise vibration stimulation on the exercise-induced muscle damage. J Phys Ther Sci. 2017;29(1):119–22.
Veqar Z, Imtiyaz S. Vibration therapy in management of delayed onset muscle soreness . J Clin Diagnostic Res. 2014;8(6):10–3.
Sethi V. Literature review of management of delayed onset muscle soreness (doms). Int J Biol Med Res. 2012;3(1):1469–75.
Poenaru D, Cinteza D, Petrusca I, Cioc L, Dumitrascu D. Local Application of Vibration in Motor Rehabilitation - Scientific and Practical Considerations. Maedica 2016;11(3):227–31.
Bakhtiary AH, Fatemi E, Khalili MA, Ghorbani R. Localised application of vibration improves passive knee extension in women with apparent reduced hamstring extensibility A randomised trial J Physiother. 2011
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