Acute Effects of Foam Rolling vs. Vibration Foam Rolling on Blood Flow Parameters in Professional Soccer Players: A Randomized Crossover Design

Abstract Padrón-Cabo, A, Alonso-Calvete, A, Radzimiński, Ł, Rey, E, and Lorenzo-Martínez, M. Acute Effects of foam rolling vs. vibration foam rolling on blood flow parameters in professional soccer players: a randomized crossover design. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000–000, 2024—The study aimed to compare the effects of foam roller (FR) and vibration foam roller (VFR) on blood flow parameters, measured by Doppler ultrasonography in professional soccer players. A randomized crossover design was used, and 10 professional soccer players participated in 3 experimental sessions: FR, VFR, and a control condition (CC). The maximum velocity (MVel) and maximum volume (MVol) blood flow parameters were measured in the common femoral artery of the dominant leg at 5 different time points as follows: before (pre), immediately after (post 0′), 10 (post 10′), 20 (post 20′), and 30 minutes (post 30′) after the intervention. Both FR and VFR involved two 45-second sets with 15-second rest between sets in the quadriceps and hamstring, while CC required sitting for 240 seconds. The FR condition showed a significant increase in MVel ( p < 0.01) at all time points after the intervention, and an increase in MVol ( p < 0.05) only at post 0′ compared with pre. The VFR condition showed a significant ( p < 0.05) increase in MVel at post 0′ and post 10′ and an increase ( p < 0.05) in MVol at post 0′ compared with pre. In comparison with CC, the FR and VFR conditions presented significantly ( p < 0.05) higher MVel values at post 0′, post 10′, post 20′, and post 30′ than CC. For both FR and VFR conditions, the MVol not only revealed a significant ( p < 0.05) increase at post 0′ but also at post 10′ for VFR compared with CC. In summary, the FR and VFR interventions demonstrated a similar increase in blood flow parameters, suggesting that both strategies may accelerate physiological recovery in elite soccer players.