ACUTE EFFECTS OF SELF-INDUCED MYOFASCIAL RELEASE ON FLEXIBILITY, POWER, AND SPEED IN COLLEGE AGE MALES AND FEMALES

In recent years, self-myofascial release has gained popularity as a post-exercise therapeutic technique in regards to alleviating pain or muscle soreness. New developments have led many researchers and practitioners to examine self-myofascial release, in the form of foam rolling, pre-exercise. The effects of foam rolling, in combination with a dynamic warm-up, is not quite understood. Minimal research has been published on this topic. To date, there has been one article that examines how a dynamic warm-up and foam rolling can improve performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine if an acute bout of foam rolling in the form of self-myofascial release in addition to a dynamic warm-up could improve performance. Fourteen active male and female participants (N = 14; age: 20.931.44; height: 68.043.21, weight: 80.0922.82, BMI: 26.47 5.89) with no prior experience foam rolling volunteered to engage in this counterbalanced, within-subjects design. Participants engaged in experimental condition groups: a general warm-up (GW) group, a dynamic warm-up (DYN) group, and a foam rolling (FM) group. Following each condition, participants performed a series of performance tests. One-way repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to compare the effect of the independent variable (group: general warm-up, dynamic warm-up, and foam rolling group) on the dependent variable (scores: flexibility, vertical jump, standing long jump, and sprint scores) to determine if significant differences exist. When the omnibus F-test statistic was significant, pairwise comparisons using Sidak comparisons were performed. The data indicated that the foam rolling group showed significant differences in flexibility and power (specifically in the standing long jump) when compared to a general or dynamic warm-up. Furthermore, no significant differences were found in the vertical jump or the speed test among the three groups. The results suggest that total-body foam rolling session may be valuable for improvements in certain aspects of performance. Implications from this study suggest foam rolling can be used before a workout routine