A comparison of the effects of effleurage and passive rest on blood lactate removal in track athletes after exercise.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to discover if sports massage had a greater effect on the removal of blood lactate after high intensity exercise when compared with passive rest. Nine university level track athletes (19.9 ± 1.8 years, 175.3 ± 7.1 cm, 63.4 ± 6.7 kg) performed two 400m runs over a period of two weeks. Recovery interventions were administered after the 400m run and consisted of sports massage, using the effleurage technique, and passive rest. A randomised crossover design was utilised and each participant underwent both recovery interventions. Blood lactate was measured at four time points across the study, after the warm up, two minutes after the 400m, immediately after the 20 minute massage or passive rest and again 20 minutes after the initial recovery. Blood lactate was measured by taking whole blood from the fingertip and analysed using the Biosen analyser in milimoles per litre (mmol/L). Data was presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD) and significance was accepted at p < 0.05 level. A paired t-test revealed no significant difference (p > 0.05) between the blood lactate values after the warm up and after the 400m between week one and week two, and a significant difference ( p < 0.001) between post warm up and post 400m blood lactate values. A two way repeated measures ANOVA revealed no significant difference (p > 0.05) between the sports massage and passive rest interventions. Sports massage did not improve the removal of blood lactate when compared to passive rest, indicating that massage did not have a significant effect on the blood lactate clearance after exercise.