Compressed air massage: repeated treatment causes less muscle oedema than a single treatment

Compressed air massage is a new treatment modality that has been shown to cause skeletal muscle capillary dilation for up to 24 hours after a single treatment and significantly hastens healing of diabetic ulcers. This study compares the effect of one treatment of a single muscle group, with repeated...

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Main Authors: M. A. Gregory, M. Mars
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AOSIS 2007-01-01
Series:South African Journal of Physiotherapy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://sajp.co.za/index.php/sajp/article/view/129
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author M. A. Gregory
M. Mars
author_facet M. A. Gregory
M. Mars
author_sort M. A. Gregory
collection DOAJ
description Compressed air massage is a new treatment modality that has been shown to cause skeletal muscle capillary dilation for up to 24 hours after a single treatment and significantly hastens healing of diabetic ulcers. This study compares the effect of one treatment of a single muscle group, with repeated treatments of several muscle groups. Methods: Four vervet monkeys underwent one, 15 min, treatment of compressed air massage at 1 Bar, to the tibialis anterior muscle and four animals received similar treatment to the whole lower leg on three consecutive days. The tibialis anterior of the treated and untreated limbs was biopsied immediately after the final treatment. Muscle fibre diameters were measured from 1µm thick toluidine blue stained resin embedded sections using light microscopy and computerized image analysis software. Results: For treatment of the whole lower limb, the mean fibre diameter increased by 6.0% from 47.31±13.4µm (95%CI:46.47-48.16) in control biopsies to 50.14±13.93µm (95%CI:49.26-51.02) in treated muscle (p<0.001). Treatment of a single muscle showed an increase in diameter of 11.3%, from 48.21±12.68µm (95%CI:47.31-49.11) to 53.63+14.29µm (95%CI:52.61-54.66 (p<0.001). Treatment of a single muscle caused significantly more oedema than treatment of the whole limb (p<0.001). Conclusions: Repeated treatment causes skeletal muscle oedema, and this appears to be dose related. Skeletal muscle oedema after three treatments is less than after a single treatment. Further studies on the use of compressed air massage on injured muscle are warranted.
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spelling doaj.art-64feefb1e6ee4834b98f8ca0131ed4212022-12-22T03:01:58ZengAOSISSouth African Journal of Physiotherapy0379-61752410-82192007-01-01632161910.4102/sajp.v63i2.129129Compressed air massage: repeated treatment causes less muscle oedema than a single treatmentM. A. Gregory0M. Mars1Dept of TeleHealth, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal.Dept of telehealth, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-NatalCompressed air massage is a new treatment modality that has been shown to cause skeletal muscle capillary dilation for up to 24 hours after a single treatment and significantly hastens healing of diabetic ulcers. This study compares the effect of one treatment of a single muscle group, with repeated treatments of several muscle groups. Methods: Four vervet monkeys underwent one, 15 min, treatment of compressed air massage at 1 Bar, to the tibialis anterior muscle and four animals received similar treatment to the whole lower leg on three consecutive days. The tibialis anterior of the treated and untreated limbs was biopsied immediately after the final treatment. Muscle fibre diameters were measured from 1µm thick toluidine blue stained resin embedded sections using light microscopy and computerized image analysis software. Results: For treatment of the whole lower limb, the mean fibre diameter increased by 6.0% from 47.31±13.4µm (95%CI:46.47-48.16) in control biopsies to 50.14±13.93µm (95%CI:49.26-51.02) in treated muscle (p<0.001). Treatment of a single muscle showed an increase in diameter of 11.3%, from 48.21±12.68µm (95%CI:47.31-49.11) to 53.63+14.29µm (95%CI:52.61-54.66 (p<0.001). Treatment of a single muscle caused significantly more oedema than treatment of the whole limb (p<0.001). Conclusions: Repeated treatment causes skeletal muscle oedema, and this appears to be dose related. Skeletal muscle oedema after three treatments is less than after a single treatment. Further studies on the use of compressed air massage on injured muscle are warranted.https://sajp.co.za/index.php/sajp/article/view/129compressed air massageskeletal myofibreslight microscopymorphometry
spellingShingle M. A. Gregory
M. Mars
Compressed air massage: repeated treatment causes less muscle oedema than a single treatment
South African Journal of Physiotherapy
compressed air massage
skeletal myofibres
light microscopy
morphometry
title Compressed air massage: repeated treatment causes less muscle oedema than a single treatment
title_full Compressed air massage: repeated treatment causes less muscle oedema than a single treatment
title_fullStr Compressed air massage: repeated treatment causes less muscle oedema than a single treatment
title_full_unstemmed Compressed air massage: repeated treatment causes less muscle oedema than a single treatment
title_short Compressed air massage: repeated treatment causes less muscle oedema than a single treatment
title_sort compressed air massage repeated treatment causes less muscle oedema than a single treatment
topic compressed air massage
skeletal myofibres
light microscopy
morphometry
url https://sajp.co.za/index.php/sajp/article/view/129
work_keys_str_mv AT magregory compressedairmassagerepeatedtreatmentcauseslessmuscleoedemathanasingletreatment
AT mmars compressedairmassagerepeatedtreatmentcauseslessmuscleoedemathanasingletreatment