(7) DOES SELF-MYOFASCIAL RELEASE IMPROVE WORK, POWER, AND TORQUE IN HIP ABDUCTION AND ADDUCTION?

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if self-myofascial release (SMR) had acute improvements for work, power, and torque in hip abduction and adduction. Methods: 24 collegiate female athletes (age = 19.2 ±0.8 years; height = 169.9 ±9.1 cm.; body mass = 65.2 ±11.8 kg) participated in this study. This was a one-group pre/post-test design to determine work, power, and torque during hip abduction and adduction on their dominant side using an isokinetic dynamometer (ISKD) (Biodex Medical System, Shirley, NY, USA) set at 120 degrees/second. Subjects were familiarized with how to perform the test on the ISKD. Subjects’ range of motion for both movements was set on the ISKD before testing. Starting in a standing position, with hands lightly pressed on a wall in front of the subject for balance, each subject was coached to perform 3 maximal repetitions, rest for 10 seconds, and perform 1 final maximal effort repetition. Each subject used a RocktapeÒ RockNRoller (Durham, NC, USA) to perform 2 minutes of SMR, rolling back and forth across their gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, using a 35 BPM cadence via metronome and maintaining a Pain Rating Scale of 7/10. After 2 minutes of SMR, each subject performed the post-test in the exact same manner as the pre-test. Pre- and post-test data for hip abduction and adduction were analyzed using a one-tailed dependent t-test on SPSS version 26.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Cohen’s d effect sizes were also calculated to determine the strength of the relationship between pre- and post-test values. Results: Descriptive statistics for all dependent variables are listed in Table 1. Statistical significance (p < 0.01) was observed only for measures of work, power, and torque for hip abduction. A medium effect size was observed for work (d = 0.50), and small – medium effect sizes were observed for power (d = 0.36) and torque (d = 0.42). Conclusions: Significantly greater work, power, and torque were produced from pre- to post-test for hip abduction after completing a 2-minute SMR intervention for the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus on the dominant side. Conversely, no significant improvements were observed between pre- and post-test measures of work, power, and torque for hip adduction following 2 minutes of SMR on the same musculature. Practical Applications: Athletic competitions relying on frontal plane movement proficiency (e.g., speed skating, ice hockey, hurdlers, etc.) could benefit from a brief SMR intervention during practice or competition to improve the ability to produce force, power, and torque using lateral movement patterns initiated from the hip. Acknowledgements: None