Re: Restoration Studies

[Guest guest]

Dianna Linden wrote:

> On Monday, Oct 02, 2000 Loren Chiu wrote:

>

> > Could you comment on the methodological flaws of Tiidus' work. In my

> > readings of his papers, I have found some, but none serious enough to

> > discount his findings.

>

> Hi Loren:

>

> It's been a while since I looked at these critically. They aren't jumpin out

> of my hard copy files as I briefly scanned for them. Will have to find them,

> give them a reread before I can comment intelligently. Now you've added one

> more thing to my 'to do' list.

> But remember, I am one of those 'informal' therapists to which Mel refers in

> his post on Musculoskeletal Therapies, in the sense that most of my training

> is through the apprenticeship mode of massage therapy training with several

> folks whose work I respect, ( Chek is not one of them). I am

> not academically involved with the critical review of studies in the field

> of sports science, biomechanics or exercise physiology, but mostly working

> one on one with athletes et al in the real world. My education in the area

> of published studies is solely my own inquiry into what is available from a

> scientific viewpoint to confirm/refute/advance my own observations and

> working hypotheses. Thus my interest in this group.

Hi Dianna,

This is exactly why I'd be interested in hearing your opinion. As someone

involved in science and research, I can comment on the scientific method and

statistical calculations, etc., however, I am not a massage therapist, so I may

miss out on errors in the treatment protocol that only someone with your

expertise would be able to point out.

> I agree, especially since there are many different kinds of soreness which

> are part of sport participation. Some are signs that tissues are damaged,

> some are not. The issue of which pain should be honored as an indicator to

> modify training around it and which could be relieved simply by some

> recovery time is one athletes must deal with all the time. I would be

> interested in reading what you have to say on this topic. I hope you intend

> to post it to this group.

I posted a message on another listserv regarding DOMS and Mel asked me to put a

post together for the ST group. I couldn't do so at the time because I was

moving, and now I am involved in research regarding DOMS so I am reading a

number of papers and will post my findings and questions once I finish this.

> >The effects of massage on fatigue and performance are likely better

> protocols.

>

> Agreed again and would love to see more trustworthy information on this

> aspect of massage's effects, which should include choices of strokes and

> timing to help determine how best to weave these into event performance

> enhancement. It's not as appealing a topic of sports performance enhancing

> research as genetic alterations or drugs. It will always involve the support

> of other humans and their time, rather than a pill the athlete can pop with

> instant results and instant income to the drug company selling the product.

> The funding for such research might be harder to come by.

At our institution, any protocol that involves DOMS would require some type of

subject compensation. Then there is equipment, blood assay kits, etc. and the

costs add up. But, as I mentioned, soreness might not be the issue. There is a

huge gap between the scientist and the practitioner in this area regarding the

issues,. and the studies being done are looking at the wrong parameters (in my

opinion).

> Thanks for the input,

> Di

>

Thank you for yours,

Loren Chiu

Graduate Assistant

Exercise Biochemistry Lab

Human Performance Labs

The University of Memphis