Does Self-myofascial Release With a Foam Roll Change Pressure Pain Thresholds in Lower Extremity Muscles

To date, no studies have examined how foam rolling effects the PPT of the ipsilateral
antagonist and contralateral muscle. There is a gap in the literature regarding our
knowledge of the effects of foam rolling on these muscles. This will be the first study to
examine the acute effects of a foam rolling intervention on ipsilateral antagonist and
contralateral muscle group PPT.

Forty-five (N=45) healthy adults (18-65 years) from California State University Dominguez
Hills (CSUDH) will be recruited for this study via convenience sampling. Data collection
will take place in the CSUDH sports medicine laboratory. Prior to testing, participants will
fill out a screening questionnaire with questions that represent the exclusion criteria
which will be used to determine ineligibility for this study.

Prior to participant recruitment and enrollment, a pilot study will be done on 10
participants to establish rater reliability using the methods mentioned below. After
acceptable reliability is achieved, recruitment and enrollment will continue.

Participants who meet the inclusion criteria and consent to participate will be enrolled in
the study. Participants will read and sign a CSUDH approved consent form prior to beginning
data collection. Following consent, participants will also fill out a questionnaire to
provide demographic information which includes age, height, and weight.

Following completion of the paperwork, all participants will undergo testing which will be
conducted between the hours of 10am and 2pm. Each data collection session will last for
approximately 10 minutes. Pressure pain threshold (PPT) will be measured using a digital
algometer on the ipsilateral left quadriceps, left hamstring, and right quadriceps muscle
group. All subjects will follow a 2-minute video-guided foam roll intervention on the left
quadriceps using a rigid foam roll with outer foam covering. The data collection process is
as follows:

1. Pretest measures (subject standing): PPT of the ipsilateral left quadriceps, left
hamstring and right quadriceps group (subject is standing during testing)

2. Intervention: 2-minute video-guided foam roll intervention using a rigid foam roller.

3. Posttest measures (subject standing): PPT of the ipsilateral left quadriceps, left
hamstring, and right quadriceps group.

Collected data will be transferred to SPSS v.22 (IBM SPSS, Chicago, IL). Means,standard
deviations, 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), and ranges for participant descriptive data
will be calculated. Pressure pain threshold pretest and posttest differences will be
calculated using the paired t-test The p-value will be considered significant at the .05
level using a two-tailed test (α2 =.05)

Inclusion Criteria:

- Healthy adults

Exclusion Criteria:

- Musculoskeletal, systemic, or metabolic disease that would affect lower extremity
joint ROM or tolerance to pressure pain threshold testing and the inability to avoid
medications that may affect testing.