Effect of massage and pseudo massage on acute performance and self-perceived recovery: a study placebo-controlled

The aim of this study was to verify the effect of massage or pseudo massage on vertical jump performance. Fifteen participants were randomly subjected to three experimental conditions: massage, pseudo massage and rest. The massage condition required three unipodal vertical jumps followed by two minutes of manual massage on plantar flexor muscles and, before performing another three jumps, the Total Quality Recover Scale (TQR) was applied. The two following conditions were structured with the same procedures, although participants were submitted either at pseudo massage (single-blinded) or two minutes of rest. Results showed no statistical differences on jump height between pre and post analysis nor between experimental conditions (massage 18.7 ± 4.1 vs 18.2 ± 4.1; pseudo massage 19.1 ± 4.0 vs 8.3 ± 3.8; rest 19.0 ± 4.0 vs 18.7 ± 3.9 cm). There were also no statistical differences in the TQR results between experimental conditions (massage 16.2 ± 4.3; pseudo massage 16.4 ± 3.9; rest 15.9 ± 2.6 ua). Both massage and pseudo massage did not affect performance on vertical jump and TQR.