The Effect of Sports Massage on Hematological Parameters in Semi-Professional Male Runners

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Fatemeh Saadat
• Morteza Hossienzadeh

Department of Sport Physiology, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Disorders of blood rheology have been reported as factors affecting the incidence of cardiovascular events and sudden death after exercise, and it seems that the recovery during or after exercise can improve cardiovascular risk factors, so the purpose of this study was to investigate the recovery effect of sports massage on hematological parameters in semi-professional male runners. Methods: In this quasi-experimental and applied study, from among the male semi-professional athletes of track and field (runners) in Fars province, Iran, 20 individuals were randomly selected and divided into two groups of 10 participants: control group and sports massage group. First, to investigate the study variables in the pre-test, the subjects’ blood samples were taken in 12 hours of fasting, and then in the match day, the two groups participated in a 1500 m run, and after finishing the match, the massage group did Swedish sport for 30 min and the control group ended their activity without recovery. After one hour, the post-test blood sampling was taken of subjects. In order to analyze the study findings, Paired sample t- test and independent samples t-test were used and the significance level was considered at less than 0.05. Results: The results of this study showed that the white blood cell levels in the sports massage group were lower compared to the control group (p=0.03), however there was no significant difference in the levels of red blood cells (p=0.93), hemoglobin (p=0.89), and hematocrit (p=0.88) of the control and massage groups. Conclusion: The results of the study showed that there is a significant difference between the two types of recovery (active and sports massage) in the variations of white blood cell, hemoglobin, and hematocrit.

Keywords

• Running
• Hematologic Tests
• Massage

---

References

1. Roumelioti ME, Glew RH, Khitan ZJ, Rondon-Berrios H, Argyropoulos CP, Malhotra D, Raj DS, et al. Fluid balance concepts in medicine: Principles and practice. World J Nephrol. 2018;7(1): 1- 28.
2. Brun JF, Connesb P, Varlet-Marie E. Alterations of blood rheology during and after exercise are both consequences and modifiers of bodys adaptation tomuscular activity. Exerc Sport Sci Rev. 2007; 22 (6): 251- 266.
3. Valizadeh R, Karampour S, Saiiari A, Sadeghi S. The effect of one bout submaximal endurance exercise on the innate and adaptive immune responses of hypertensive patients. Rep Health Care. 2018; 4 (4): 14- 20.
4. Ahmadi M, Shadmehri S. The effect of a single bout of aerobic exercise on ergometer on inflammatory and hormonal markers in active girls. Rep Health Care. 2018; 4 (1): 44- 54.
5. Arshadi S, Noora M, Shakibatabar R. Effect of whole body vibration training during the recovery time on the anaerobic performance indices and the blood lactate concentration of men wrestlers. Rep Health Care. 2018; 4 (2): 1- 7.
6. Sellami M, Gasmi M, Denham J. Effects of acute and chronic exercise on immunological parameters in the elderly aged: can physical activity counteract the effects of aging?. Front Immunol. 2018; 9: 2187.
7. Heaton LE, Davis JK, Rawson ES, Nuccio PR, Witard OC, Stein KW. et al. Selected in- season nutritional strategies to enhance recovery for team sport athletes: A practical overview. Sports Med. 2017; 47 (11): 2201- 2218.
8. Levine BD. VO2max: what do we know, and what do we still need to know?. J Physiol. 2007; 586 (1): 25- 34.
9. Aziz AR, Tan F, Yeo A, Teh KC, Council SS. Physiological attributes of professional player in Singapore soccer league. J Sports Med. 2004; 13: 125- 132.
10. Braun WA, Von Duvillard SP. Influence of carbohydrate delivery on the immune response during exercise and recovery from exercise. Nutr. 2014; 20 (7- 8): 645- 650.
11. Vaczi M, Tihanyi J, Hortobagyi T, Racz L, Csende Z, Costa A, Pucsok J. Mechanical, biochemical, and electromyographic responses to short-term eccentric-concentric knee extensor training in humans. J Strength Cond Res. 2011; 25 (4): 922- 932.
12. Faulkner JA, Brooks SV, Opiteck JA. Injury to skeletal muscle fibers during contractions: conditions of occurrence and prevention. Phys Ther. 1993; 73 (12): 911- 921.
13. Warren GL, Lowe DA, Armstrong RB. Measurement tools used in the study of eccentric contraction-induced injury. Sports Med. 1999; 27 (1): 43- 59.
14. Arefinia M, Ghasemi B, Arefinia S, Moradi M. The effect of three methods of aromatherapy, massage and aromatherapy massage on muscular pain rate of female athletes in isfahan (Iran). JSMED. 2013; 5 (1): 55- 68.
15. Piraki P, Ebrahim KH, Karimi F, Aniseian A. Effect of active and passive recovery on athletes' white blood cell count. Qom Univ Med Sci J. 2008; 2 (2): 15- 20.‏
16. Wigernaes I, Hostmark AT, Kierulf P, StrommeSB. Active recovery reduces the decrease in circulating white blood cells after exercise. Int J Sports Med. 2000; 21 (8): 608- 612.
17. Wigernaes I, Hostmark AT, Stromme SB, Kierulf P, Birkeland K. Active recovery and post-exercise white blood cell count, free fatty acids, and hormones in endurance athletes. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2001; 84 (4): 358- 366.
18. Lohman EB, Sackiriyas KS, Bains GS, Calandra G, Lobo C, Nakhro D, Malthankar G, et al. A comparison of whole body vibration and moist heat on lower extremity skin temperature and skin blood flow in healthy older individuals. Med Sci Monit. 2012; 18 (7): CR415- 424.
19. Arkko PJ, Pakarinen AJ, Kari-Koskinen O. Effects of whole body massage on serum protein, electrolyte and hormone concentrations, enzyme activities, and hematological parameters. Int J Sports Med. 1983; 4 (4): 265- 267.
20. Crane JD, Ogborn DI, Cupido C, Melov S, Hubbard A, Bourgeois JM, Tarnopolsky MA. Massage therapy attenuates inflammatory signaling after exercise-induced muscle damage. Sci Transl Med. 2012; 4 (119): 119ra13.
21. Zouhal H, Jacob C, Delamarche P, Gratas-Delamarche A. Catecholamines and the effects of exercise, training and gender. Sports Med. 2008; 38 (5): 401- 423.‏