The Effect of Two Different Recovery Methods on Muscle Damage after High-Intensity Exercise

The study aims to determine which of the two recovery methods would be more appropriate after high-intensity exercise. Eight professional volleyball players participate in this research. Firstly, the muscle damage exercise protocol was applied to the athletes participating in the research, and then the Cold Water Immersion (CWI) protocol was applied as a recovery method. Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST), Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) and Creatine Kinase (CK) blood samples were taken from the athletes in resting conditions and 2 hours and 24 hours after CWI. Ten days later, the muscle damage exercise protocol was reapplied to the same group of athletes, the Massage protocol was used as a recovery method, and blood samples were taken again in a similar way. To compare the AST, LDH and CK changes of the athletes participating in the research, the two-way analysis of variance test was used in repeated measurements. Mann-Whitney U test was used for the dissimilarities between CWI and massage groups. According to the results of the research; It was determined that there were significant differences at the p<0.05 level for the AST and LDH variable between the measurement values of massage and CWI (p<0.05). No significant difference was found between massage and CWI for CK value. The use of recovery methods after exercise is relatively significant for athletes. Following the consequences of the research, was observed that the muscle damage of the athletes who received massage treatment was lower than those who were applied CWI.