Key Practical Points from Effects on Local Vibration
- Pre-exercise local vibration reduces functional signs and chemical markers of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and may improve performance in subsequent frequent workouts.
- Local vibration is effective for reducing acute muscle pain (and can be added to a home program via the devices like the Hypervolt by Hyperice® or similar devices).
- Local vibration alone may be sufficient to increase strength in deconditioned muscles/individuals.
- Current research implies that adding vibration to self-administered release techniques (SMR) (e.g. foam rolling) enhances benefits for DOMS, pain pressure sensitivity, and increasing proprioception. Further research is needed to refine protocols and determine whether adding vibration to SMR enhances benefits for increasing range of motion and improving power performance when used as a warm-up.
Protocol for Using Percussion Massage Device
- Start with a higher setting and superficially (with gentle pressure) trace the entire surface of the muscle.
- Setting 3 is likely appropriate for the lower body.
- Take a mental note of dense or sensitive points. Manual therapists may use the opposite hand to palpate for taut bands and nodules (trigger points).
- Stay away from areas where the bone is superficial. Using percussion massage devices over bone may be uncomfortable, painful, and/or cause bruising. Placing a finger or thumb over bony protuberances will prevent accidental contact.
- Using a piece with a smaller surface area and lower setting (setting 1), return to the dense/sensitive points using deeper compression.
- It may be helpful to add tension or slack by shortening or lengthening the target tissue
- The Brookbush Institute recommends 30 seconds to 2 minutes per muscle group, and 5 minutes as an upper limit even in the case of multiple trigger points.
Best Body Position:
- Lying in supine with hands behind head.
Bony Areas: (Block with a thumb or finger when approaching these areas)
- Clavicle
- Sternoclavicular joint
Muscles:
- Pectoralis major is the largest superficial muscle of the chest, identify the borders of this muscle by locating the clavicle and sternum, and the lateral portion of the muscle which acts as the "roof" of the axilla (armpit). The fibers of the pectoralis major run horizontally from the clavicle and sternum to the lateral border, converging in a thick tendon that passes under the anterior deltoid to its insertion on the anterior proximal portion of the humerus.
- Common Trigger Points - May be found in the middle of the muscle bellies of any fiber from those originating on the xiphoid process to fibers originating from the clavicle. Occasionally, a lateral trigger point may develop along the axillary border of the muscle.
- Pectoralis minor lies deep to the pectoralis major and has a near-vertical fiber direction, coursing from ribs 3 - 5 to the coracoid process on the lateral aspect of the chest.
- Common Trigger Point: In the middle of the muscle belly.
