Abstract
Objective
To determine if lower extremity exercise-induced muscle injury reduces vascular endothelial
function of the upper extremity and if massage therapy (MT) improves peripheral vascular
function after exertion-induced muscle injury.
Design
Randomized, blinded trial with evaluations at 90 minutes, 24 hours, 48 hours, and
72 hours.
Setting
Clinical research center.
Participants
Sedentary young adults (N=36) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: (1) exertion-induced
muscle injury and MT (n=15; mean age ± SE, 26.6±0.3); (2) exertion-induced muscle
injury only (n=10; mean age ± SE, 23.6±0.4), and (3) MT only (n=11; mean age ± SE,
25.5±0.4).
Intervention
Participants were assigned to exertion-induced muscle injury only (a single bout of
bilateral, eccentric leg press exercise), MT only (30-min lower extremity massage
using Swedish technique), or exertion-induced muscle injury and MT.
Main Outcome Measures
Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) was determined by ultrasound at each
time point. Nitroglycerin (NTG)-induced dilation was also assessed (0.4mg).
Results
Brachial FMD increased from baseline in the exertion-induced muscle injury and MT
group and the MT only group (7.38%±.18% to 9.02%±.28%, P<.05 and 7.77%±.25% to 10.2%±.22%, P<.05, respectively) at 90 minutes and remained elevated until 72 hours. In the exertion-induced
muscle injury only group, FMD was reduced from baseline at 24 and 48 hours (7.78%±.14%
to 6.75%±.11%, P<.05 and 6.53%±.11%, P<.05, respectively) and returned to baseline after 72 hours. Dilations of NTG were
similar over time.
Conclusions
Our results suggest that MT attenuates impairment of upper extremity endothelial function
resulting from lower extremity exertion-induced muscle injury in sedentary young adults.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
FMD (flow-mediated dilation), MT (massage therapy), NO (nitric oxide), NTG (nitroglycerin), ROM (range of motion), ROS (reactive oxygen species), SR (shear rate)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 27, 2014
Footnotes
Supported by the Massage Therapy Foundation; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (grant nos. K23HL85614, RO1HL095701, and HL095701-01A2S); and the University of Illinois at Chicago, Center for Clinical and Translational Science (award no. UL1TR000050) from the National Center for Research Resources.
The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has conferred or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
