CESPU, North Polytechnic Institute of Health, Department of Physiotherapy, Paredes, Portugal.
Phys Ther Sport. 2012 May;13(2):101-14. doi: 10.1016/j.ptsp.2011.07.005. Epub 2011 Sep 14.
Exhaustive and/or unaccustomed exercise, mainly involving eccentric muscle actions, induces temporary muscle damage, evidenced by delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and decreased muscle function. Different strategies to recover from its signs and symptoms have been studied and, as a result, a significant number of articles on this issue have been published.
To assess whether some modalities currently used in physiotherapy such as massage, cryotherapy, stretching and low-intensity exercise are effective for treating the signs and symptoms of exercise-induced muscle damage.
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), written in English or Portuguese, that included physiotherapeutic interventions [i.e., massage, cryotherapy, stretching and low-intensity exercise, on adult human subjects (18-60 years old) of both gender] were searched on electronic databases including MEDLINE, CINHAL, EMBASE, PEDro and SPORTDiscus.
"Muscle soreness" and "muscle strength" were the outcome measures included in the meta-analysis.
Thirty-five studies were included; nine analysed the effects of massage, 10 examined the effects of cryotherapy, nine investigated the effects of stretching and seven focused on low-intensity exercise intervention. Massage was the only intervention with positive effects, reducing soreness at 24 h, on average, 0.33 on 10 cm visual analog scale (95 percent CI: -0.59, -0.07) and increasing muscle recovery by 1.87 percent (95 percent CI: 0.30, 3.44). Additionally, there is inconclusive evidence to support the use of cryotherapy, while there is little evidence to prove the efficacy of stretching and low-intensity exercise.
Massage proved slightly effective in the relief of symptoms and signs of exercise-induced muscle damage. Therefore, its mean effect was too small to be of clinical relevance. There is a lack of evidence to support the use of cryotherapy, stretching and low-intensity exercise.
剧烈运动或不习惯的运动（主要涉及离心肌肉运动）会导致暂时的肌肉损伤，其表现为延迟性肌肉酸痛（DOMS）和肌肉功能下降。人们研究了许多从这些迹象和症状中恢复的策略，因此，关于这个问题的大量文章已经发表。
评估按摩、冷冻疗法、拉伸和低强度运动等目前在物理治疗中使用的一些方法是否对治疗运动引起的肌肉损伤的症状和体征有效。
在电子数据库中搜索了随机对照试验（RCT），这些试验使用了物理治疗干预措施（即按摩、冷冻疗法、拉伸和低强度运动），纳入了成年（18-60 岁）、性别不限的人类受试者。检索的数据库包括 MEDLINE、CINHAL、EMBASE、PEDro 和 SPORTDiscus。
纳入的 meta 分析包括“肌肉酸痛”和“肌肉力量”作为观察指标。
共纳入 35 项研究；9 项研究分析了按摩的效果，10 项研究考察了冷冻疗法的效果，9 项研究调查了拉伸的效果，7 项研究聚焦于低强度运动干预。按摩是唯一具有积极效果的干预措施，平均可使 24 小时疼痛减轻 0.33 分（10 分制视觉模拟评分，95%置信区间：-0.59，-0.07），并使肌肉恢复增加 1.87%（95%置信区间：0.30，3.44）。此外，尚没有足够证据支持冷冻疗法的使用，拉伸和低强度运动的疗效也缺乏证据支持。
按摩在缓解运动引起的肌肉损伤的症状和体征方面稍显有效。因此，其平均效应太小，无临床意义。缺乏证据支持冷冻疗法、拉伸和低强度运动的使用。
