Intermittent Pneumatic Compression May Reduce Muscle Soreness but Does Not Improve Neuromuscular Function Following Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial.

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the impact of an intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) protocol on the recovery kinetics following exercise-induced muscle damage caused by an all-out flywheel protocol consisting of 6 sets of 12-repetition squats.

Methods: Thirty-three active male university students (age 20.85 [2.8] y, height 178 [5.7] cm, body mass 75.05 [7.54] kg) were randomly assigned to either a 30-minute peristaltic IPC treatment at 200 mm Hg or a 30-minute placebo intervention (ie, simulated microcurrent treatment). Participants performed functional tests, including maximal knee extension and flexion, countermovement jump, and broad jump, and completed a perceptual soreness questionnaire before the fatigue protocol, immediately after the 30-minute recovery intervention and 24 and 48 hours postintervention. To examine the effects of the fatigue protocol and recovery interventions, a 2 × 4 repeated-measures analysis of variance was conducted, and effect sizes were calculated to assess practical relevance.

Results: A significant time effect was observed for all measurements (ηp2: .216-.697; P < .05), indicating substantial fatigue from the exercise-induced-muscle-damage protocol. However, no statistically significant differences were detected between recovery interventions (ηp2: .001-.130; P: .155-.859). Notably, based on the effect-size analysis, a consistent trend toward reduced perceived soreness with IPC was observed, which may hold practical relevance for athletes (d: 0.32-0.75).

Conclusions: Overall, a 30-minute IPC application immediately following exercise-induced muscle damage does not appear to improve the recovery kinetics of jumping and maximal voluntary contraction performance; however, the potential reduction in perceived soreness suggests a need for further investigation.