Last month we discussed the importance of flexibility and limb range of motion, and how this affects sports performance. Since then we’ve been super busy out in the field with our new Pulseroll massage gun, testing the effects of percussion therapy. Over the coming weeks we will continue to robustly test our new technology in preparation for some future research that will formally assess its validity. We are excited to be involved in this research so we wanted to give you a sneak preview of what we have been doing and some early feedback!
The Experiment
Firstly we want to introduce a great new company we are collaborating with on this project, the Letsense group, an innovative Italian company working in the wearable technology field of analysing movement and biomechanics in research, medicine and sport.
By attaching this small WIVA Science sensor to the participant’s upper thigh we were able to very accurately measure, in degrees, the ‘range of motion’ (ROM) of the hamstring muscle as shown in the image below.
Once we had this baseline data we then administered 3 minutes of percussion therapy using our new percussion gun directly to the participants hamstrings. Our new gun has four speed settings, meaning it can deliver a range of intensity (Hertz), as well as 6 different attachment heads.
During this research we applied therapy using setting two with the round head attachment. What we were interested to test was if this short bout of therapy could improve the range of motion in the participants joint by improving flexibility.
The Results
We are so impressed we have graphed the results for you to see. The blue line is before treatment and the red line is after! On average we were seeing an approximate 15-20% increase in flexibility in all participants with two in the group over 30% and all of this with only 3 mins of percussion therapy!
The complete study will be more in-depth as we include other important variables such as performance in a strength-based task before and after treatment. Plus we will compare our massage gun against other tech on the market.
If you have any questions regarding how our products can help you with your own performance or other aspects of your health and fitness please get in touch.
Stuart Percival is head sports physiologist at www.sunsportcoaching.com A Manchester based sports performance assessment business.
