Abstract
Objectives: Individuals engage in strenuous physical activity to which they are unaccustomed usually land up in a phenomenon called Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS) and results in pain, muscle stiffness and swelling. The current study was aimed to see the effect of cryo, ultrasound and its combination therapies on the reduction of symptoms of DOMS. Materials and Methods: A total of 30 subjects with the mean age of 22.1 +/- 5.9 years participated in the study. Subjects were randomly allocated to three groups A, B and C (n=10) and induced DOMS by a standard exercise protocol. Each group received different treatment application i.e. ultrasound (US), cryotherapy (CT) and combination (C) of both. Study outcomes were measured by Perceived Muscle Soreness (PMS), Relaxed-Elbow flexion angle (rEFA), Plasma Creatine Kinase (CK) level at 0 hours (pre-exercise), 24hrs, 48hrs, 72hrs and at 92hrs. Results: All three groups showed improvement with respect to their interventions, whereas the C group, after 96 hours of post-exercise the rEFA return to its near normal range as compared to the other two groups. Although there was a rise in the plasma CK level in all three groups, however the C group was effective in minimizing the rising level of CK and also in the reduction of muscle soreness at successive time intervals and reaches to baseline after 96 hours of post-exercise. Conclusion: The combined application of cryotherapy and pulsed ultrasound immediately after exercise induced muscle damage is a better choice of treatment, It is also observed that cryotherapy was more effective than pulsed ultrasound alone treatment in reduction of symptoms.