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Updated: Jun 14, 2025
08:51
The Use of Thermal Infra-Red Imaging to Detect Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
Published on: January 22, 2012
19.2K
Physical Therapies for Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness: An Umbrella and Mapping Systematic Review with
Szczepan Wiecha1, Igor Cieśliński2, Paweł Wiśniowski2
1Clinical Cardiology Department, National Medical Institute of the Ministry of Interior and Administration, 02-507, Warsaw, Poland. szczepan.wiecha@pimmswia.gov.pl.
Sports Medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)
|March 22, 2025
Summary
This umbrella review found that while many physiotherapy treatments show promise for delayed-onset muscle soreness, most evidence comes from low-quality studies. Cooling therapy, cryostimulation, and contrast therapy show the strongest effects for pain relief.
Area of Science:
- Sports Medicine
- Rehabilitation Science
- Exercise Physiology
Background:
- Delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is a common consequence of intense exercise, causing pain and reduced muscle function.
- Existing systematic reviews on DOMS treatments offer conflicting results, hindering clinical application.
- This study addresses the need for a comprehensive synthesis of evidence on physiotherapy interventions for DOMS.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conduct an umbrella review to summarize the effectiveness of physiotherapy interventions for alleviating DOMS.
- To evaluate the risk of bias in existing systematic reviews and categorize evidence strength.
- To provide practical insights for clinicians and researchers regarding DOMS management.
Main Methods:
- An umbrella review and meta-meta-analysis were performed, searching multiple databases from 1998 to February 2024.
- Included systematic reviews focused on randomized controlled trials of physiotherapy treatments for DOMS in healthy adults.
- Methodological quality was assessed using AMSTAR-2, and an evidence map visualized intervention effects based on effect size and evidence strength.
Main Results:
- Twenty-nine systematic reviews, encompassing 863 unique RCTs on 24 treatments, were included.
- Seventeen reviews were of critically low methodological quality; only two were high quality.
- Significant pain reduction was noted for contrast therapy, cooling therapy, and cryostimulation, with varying effects across follow-up times. Massage, compression, and kinesiotaping also showed positive results.
Conclusions:
- A substantial body of evidence exists for DOMS physiotherapy treatments, but it predominantly stems from low-quality systematic reviews.
- Strong evidence supports cooling therapy, cryostimulation, contrast therapy, massage, phototherapy, and kinesiotaping for DOMS.
- Evidence for stretching, exercises, and electrical stimulation is weak, and overall evidence quality limits generalizability.
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