acell therapy mat

Quote
Cycloidal Vibration Therapy Is No More Effective Than the Standard Practice of Massage and Stretching for Promoting Recovery From Muscle Damage After Eccentric Exercise.

Hi Ray,

Yes there are major benefits in all types of massage, unfortunately claims made by some companies selling treatment equipment based on some type of deep massage effect have to be taken with a grain of salt.

I’m also not all that keen on treatment that vibrates the whole body of the greyhound and would rather see any treatment targeted for and to the actual site of the injury.

Niagara have long been associated with selling massage type equipment to the elderly at highly inflated prices many of whom are desperate to do and pay anything to try and alleviate the pain/effects of advancing old age, and it’s interesting to see it’s foray into animal treatments where pet owners again are often prepared to pay anything to try and alleviate pain and discomfort for their loved companion animals.

While there is a fair bit of hype published by those promoting this type of equipment, the abstract below is the only genuine trial to test this type of therapy I have been able to find, and it’s conclusion is very straight forward.

Cheers,
Tom

Fuller JT1, Thomson RL, Howe PR, Buckley JD.
Author information
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this study was to determine if vibration therapy is more effective than the standard treatment of stretching and massage for improving recovery of muscle strength and reducing muscle soreness after muscle damage induced by eccentric exercise.
DESIGN:
A randomized, single-blinded parallel intervention trial design was used.
SETTING:
Research laboratory.
PARTICIPANTS:
Fifty untrained men aged 18 to 30 years completed the study.
INTERVENTIONS:
Participants performed 100 maximal eccentric muscle actions (ECCmax) of the right knee extensor muscles. For the next 7 days, 25 participants applied cycloidal vibration therapy to the knee extensors twice daily and 25 participants performed stretching and sports massage (SSM) twice daily.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
Changes in markers of muscle damage [peak isometric torque (PIT), serum creatine kinase (CK), and serum myoglobin (Mb)], muscle soreness (visual analog scale), and inflammation [serum C-reactive protein (CRP)] were assessed.
RESULTS:
After ECCmax, there was no difference in recovery of PIT and muscle soreness or serum CK, Mb, and CRP levels between vibration and SSM groups (P > 0.28).
CONCLUSIONS:
Cycloidal vibration therapy is no more effective than the standard practice of stretching and massage to promote muscle recovery after the performance of muscle-damaging exercise.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE:
Prescription of vibration therapy after maximal exercise involving eccentric muscle damage did not alleviate signs and symptoms of muscle damage faster than the standard prescription of stretching and massage.