Effectiveness of Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy for Rapid Relief of Exercise-induced Muscle Fatigue

Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) is a commonly used physical therapy method in clinical and rehabilitation fields. This paper assesses the effect of ESWT in the rapid relief of exercise-induced muscle fatigue, based on fatigue protocol and ESWT intervention experiments, combined with subjective and objective fatigue evaluation methods. After 22 subjects experienced exercise-induced biceps brachii fatigue, the experimental group received a single 250-second ESWT intervention, while the control group underwent placebo treatment. During the experiment, the Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scores, maximum voluntary contraction (MVC), and electromyographic (EMG) data were recorded, and the values of EMG time-domain and frequency-domain parameters were calculated. After intervention, the MVC values of the experimental group significantly recovered, and the EMG parameters returned to baseline levels, all of which showed significant differences compared to the control group. The RPE scores also significantly recovered, but the recovery effect was not significantly better than that of the control group. A single session of ESWT intervention can effectively improve exercise-induced muscle fatigue, characterized by the recovery of muscle strength and the improvement of electrophysiological status.