Effects of immediate mechanotherapy and intermittent contrast water immersion on subsequent cycling performance

Abstract

Purpose: Finding the balance between the training, the competition, and recovery is a crucial component for maximal sports performance. A huge range of sport recovery methods is pre-sented as an important part of training programs. In recent years, there has been an increas-ing interest in using the contrast water immersion and massage and its effect on subsequent muscle function. Recent studies have shown that the contrast water immersion affects the maximal force, which can be useful for subsequent repeated performance. This study aims to investigate the differences between using immediate mechanotherapy and contrast water immersion on cycling performance. Methods: Eight physically active male participants (age 27.1 ± 2.32 years; body mass 77.38 ± 5.43 kg; body height 1.78 ± 0.05 m; body fat 10.12 ± 2.23 %; maximum heart rate 182 ± 4 beats·min-1; VO2max 47.92 ± 7.16 mL.kg-1.min-1) volunteered and gave written in-formed consent to participate in this study. Participants completed three trials, each sepa-rated by one week. Each trial consisted of two “all-out” exercise bouts (30-20-10 s) against the load resistance of 0.07 kg/body weight. Three minutes recovery phase was between the “all-out” exercise bouts (1 W/kg; a pedal rate of 70–75 rpm). Following this, the selected recovery strategy was applied for 24 minutes (PAS-passive recovery, MT-massage therapy, CWI-contrast water immersion). The effect of recovery was assessed through changes in performance parameters, blood lactate concentration, and blood gases analyses. Results: The results obtained from the analysis showed positive statistical significance differ-ence between using PAS vs. MT (p = 0.0313) and PAS vs. CWI (p = 0.0441) for peak power. Interestingly, there were similar differences in fatigue index when we had compared PAS vs. MT and PAS vs. CWI. A decrease in lactate levels overtime was the highest for CWI. Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that CWI and MT could be considered as a useful method in sports recovery. The results of this research support the idea that passive recovery is not the right way of recovery, especially when the athletes expect subsequent performance. Future trials should assess the impact of water temperature and different mas-sage techniques on performance and also for subjective feelings of athletes.