Effects of massage therapy and exercise therapy on recovery of shin splints injury in women's long distance running athletes

Abstract

The high intensity of running athletes’ training to overtraining and athletes who are not optimal even forget to do stretching and cooling down causes shin splints injuries. This certainly interferes with the performance of athletes during training and competitions. This study aims to determine the effect of massage therapy and exercise therapy on the recovery of shin splint injuries in female long-distance runners in the master category. This type of research uses a quasi-experimental approach with a One-Control Group Pretest-Postest Design research design. The data collection technique used tests and measurements with a goniometer to measure the range of motion of the joints and a pain scale to determine the level of pain. The population in this study were female marathon athletes aged 42 years and over. The data analysis technique used the paired t-test after previously going through the normality test and homogeneity test. The results showed that there were significant differences in the treatment of massage therapy and exercise therapy, namely decreased pain and increased joint ROM with a value of p = 0.000 (p < 0.05).