Sport and Fitness PhD researcher, Lorna Sams, and supervisors Dr Ben Langdown, Professor Joan Simons, Dr Jitka Vseteckova have recently had Open Access Systematic Literature Review published. The paper titled “The effect of percussive therapy on musculoskeletal performance and experiences of pain: a systematic literature review” has been published in The International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy and is receiving a lot of attention from practitioners and online publications. Check out the infographic and YouTube summaries below that have referenced the paper:

The systematic literature review investigates research conducted on the effects of percussive therapy interventions on performance in strength and conditioning settings, and on experiences of musculoskeletal pain.

Conclusions were that percussive therapy delivered by massage guns can help improve acute muscle strength, explosive muscle strength and flexibility, and reduce experiences of musculoskeletal pain.

The literature review highlighted that further research is needed to establish a standard, validated treatment protocol to allow analysis across populations and those with specific performance needs or pain, as well as considering the chronic effects of percussive therapy and the impact of multiple treatments.

Congratulations to Lorna and her co-authors!

Sams, L., Langdown, B. L., Simons, J. and Vseteckova, J. (2023) ‘The effect of percussive therapy on musculoskeletal performance and experiences of pain: A systematic literature review’, International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, Int J Sports Phys Ther, vol. 18, no. 2 [Online]. DOI: 10.26603/001C.73795