Short-Term and Lasting Effects of Instrumented-Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization Technique in Subjects with Restricted Ankle Dorsiflexion
Open Access
- Area of Honors:
- Kinesiology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Sayers John Miller, III, Thesis Supervisor
- Mary Jane De Souza, Honors Advisor
- Keywords:
- Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization
- Ankle Dorsiflexion
- Weight-bearing
- Star Excursion Balance Test
- Functional Movement Screen
- Overhead Deep Squat
- Graston
- Abstract:
- ABSTRACT SHORT-TERM AND LASTING EFFECTS OF INSTRUMENT ASSISTED SOFT TISSUE MOBILIZATION TECHNIQUE IN SUBJECTS WITH RESTRICTED ANKLE DORSIFLEXION Allen SI*, Miller SJ*: Athletic Training Research Laboratory, Department of Kinesiology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA Objective: To determine the short-term and long-term effects on performance outcomes of an Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM) technique on participants who have squat limitations. We hypothesized that compared to a control group, the treatment would improve the performance outcomes both immediately and 1-week after treatment. Design and Settings: A pre-test-post-test repeated measures true experimental design was conducted in a laboratory. There were two groups, a treatment group (TG) that received a single session of eight minutes of IASTM on each calf, and a sham treatment group (SG) that served as the experimental control and received a single session of eight minutes of a sham IASTM treatment on each calf. Baseline data was collected before treatment and post measurements were taken immediately after treatment, and 1-week after treatment for both TG and SG. Subjects: Twenty (5 men, 15 women) participants were enrolled in this study and were randomly assigned to one of two groups; TG (21.4 0.55 years, 170.1 10.1 cm, 66.4 9.7 kg), SG (21.8 0.20 years, 167.2 5.83 cm, 66.1 10.6 kg). Measurements: Ankle dorsiflexion (DF) range of motion (ROM) was measured using the Weight Bearing Lunge Test (WBLT). Mobility and dynamic stability of the trunk and lower extremities were assessed via the anterior reach portion of the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) and the overhead deep squat test from the Functional Movement Screen (FMS). Order of testing was randomized to prevent order effects. Results: There were no significant differences found between or within group differences for any comparisons of the dependent variables in this study. No significant three-way interactions were found between foot, measurement period, and treatment for WBLT (p = 0.910) or SEBT (p = 0.872). For the dominant foot data, there were no significant two-way interactions regarding measurement period or treatment for both WBLT (p = 0.752) and SEBT (p = 0.564). Likewise, there were no significant main effects of the treatment on the WBLT (p = 0.335) or SEBT (p = 0.144) dependent variables for the dominant foot. For the FMS data, there were no significant immediate or 1-week changes in scores between or within the treatment groups (Immediate p = 0.44; 1-week p = 0.18). Conclusions: There were no short-term or long-term effects of a single session of IASTM on weight-bearing ankle dorsiflexion range of motion or performance outcomes in individuals with squat limitations.