European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science ISSN: 2501 - 1235 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1235 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu doi: 10.5281/zenodo.896961 Volume 3 │ Issue 11 │ 2017 ACUTE EFFECTS OF APPLIED LOCAL VIBRATION DURING FOAM ROLLER EXERCISES ON LOWER EXTREMITY EXPLOSIVE STRENGTH AND FLEXIBILITY PERFORMANCE İsa Sağiroğlui Department of Coaching Education, Trakya University, Edirne, Turkey Abstract: Self-myofascial releasing (SMR) exercises using foam roller equipment are thought to improve muscle performance. It is also known that local vibration (LV) exercises have been improving strength, power, and flexibility for a long time. However, there is a limited study that examines the effects of SMR exercises applied with LV on muscular performance. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of SMR applications using vibrating foam roller equipment on lower extremity explosive strength and flexibility in well-trained soccer players. Twenty-two well-trained male soccer players (mean age 22.13 ± 2.47 years, height 178 ± 4.92cm body weight 74.9 ± 3.93kg, training time 11.59 ± 1.14h / week) participated in two different exercise sessions (foam roller and foam roller+LV) with randomized crossover study design and 48-hour intervals. All athletes were tested for the Counter Movement Jump (CMJ) and sit-and-reach (S & R) flexibility test before and after both training sessions. When the results of the study were examined, both foam roller exercise and after foam roller + LV exercise showed an increase in jump and flexibility performance (p <0.05). However, no difference was observed between the applications when the data obtained from both applications were compared among themselves. As a result, foam roller exercises made with local vibration seemed to have the similar effect on jumping and flexibility performance compared to foam roller exercises only. Moreover, both foam roller and foam roller + LV exercises can be applied by athletes prior to training or competitions due to their positive effects on muscle performance. Keywords: self-myofascial releasing, local vibration, vertical jump, flexibility, football Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 20 İsa Sağiroğlu ACUTE EFFECTS OF APPLIED LOCAL VIBRATION DURING FOAM ROLLER EXERCISES ON LOWER EXTREMITY EXPLOSIVE STRENGTH AND FLEXIBILITY PERFORMANCE 1. Introduction Foam roller exercises have recently been used frequently by fitness coaches, sportive performance conditioners, and physiotherapists on athletes for pre-exercise warm-up or post-exercise cooling (Beardsley and Skarabot, 2015). In order to understand the mechanism of action of foam roller exercises, it is first necessary to know myofascial releasing (MR). MR is a broad term for manual therapy techniques applied by pressing to muscle and fascia (McKenney, Elder, Elder and Hutchins, 2013). Fascia is defined as a fibrous-colloidal tissue that is part of the body's blood pressure-force transmission system (Benjamin, 2009). One of the sub-branches of MR applications is the SelfMyofascial Releasing (SMR) technique. During the SMR applications, the athlete or the individual performs self-MR exercises using various tools. One of the most common tools used during SMR applications is foam roller equipment (Healey, Hatfield, Blanpied, Dorfman and Riebe, 2014, MacDonald et al., 2013, Coreya Peacock et al., 2015). Foam roller applications have many acute and chronic effects. The best known are acute and chronic increases in flexibility, reduction in muscle pain, modulation of autonomic nervous system activity and arterial and vascular endothelial function effects (Beardsley and Skarabot, 2015, MacDonald et al., 2013, Corey A Peacock et al., 2015, Sullivan and Silvey, 2013). Despite the many positive effects of SMR exercises, there is no clear consensus on the mechanisms of action. However, studies have concentrated on the mechanisms of action on the fascia, although not much clear information yet. Simmonds, Miller and Gemmell (2012) examined the mechanisms of SMR applications by separating them into mechanical and neurophysiological effects. Mechanical effects include thixotropy, piezoelectric, facial adhesions, cellular responses, myofascial trigger points and facial inflammation. Neurophysiological effects are on the Golgi tendon organ and mechanoreceptors. On the other hand, it is stated that vibration exercises also cause an increase in strength, power, and flexibility in sportsmen (Dallas et al., 2015; Savelberg, Keizer and Meijer, 2007). Its use on sportsmen is particularly popular by fitness trainers and sportive performance coaches. Local vibration (LV) and whole body vibration (WBV) tools are applied in two ways. Studies show that LV may be more effective than WBV because the muscles are exposed to direct vibration (Peer, Barkley and Knapp, 2009). The vibration tool brings to the mechanical oscillation course, which can affect muscle spindle and Ia afferents, resulting in a change in the length of the muscular extrafusal fibrils. The response resulting from the activation of this vibrational afferent feedback mechanism is known as tonic vibration reflex (TVR) (M. Cardinale and Bosco, 2003). European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science - Volume 3 │ Issue 11 │ 2017 21 İsa Sağiroğlu ACUTE EFFECTS OF APPLIED LOCAL VIBRATION DURING FOAM ROLLER EXERCISES ON LOWER EXTREMITY EXPLOSIVE STRENGTH AND FLEXIBILITY PERFORMANCE In recent years, especially in the fitness industry, foam roller tools with vibration mechanism have begun to be used. The work done with this equipment aims to achieve acute and chronic maximum benefit in power and flexibility performance by combining the mechanical and neurophysiological effects of LV and SMR applications. However, when literature review is made, it cannot be seen that the combined use of LV and SMR exercises does not investigate the acute effects on flexibility and lower extremity explosive strength of soccer players. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of foam roller and foam roller + LV applications by made with vibrating foam roller equipment on the explosive strength of the lower extremity. The hypothesis of this study was “the acutely applied foam roller + LV on lower limb flexibility and explosive strength performance is more effective than the only application of foam roller applied acutely". For downloading the full article, please access the following link: https://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejep/article/view/1041 European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science - Volume 3 │ Issue 11 │ 2017 22