An acute bout of foam rolling of the biceps brachii does not affect upper extremity sensorimotor function: a randomized trial

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effects of single session foam rolling of the biceps brachii on upper extremity sensorimotor function including elbow proprioception, strength, and functional motor performance in healthy individuals. Methods: Sixty healthy participants (mean age = 21.53 ± 2.80 years) were randomly assigned into the foam rolling group (FRG, n = 30) (mean age = 22.10 ± 2.98 years) (a single session of foam rolling to the biceps brachii muscle) or control group (CG, n = 30) (mean age = 20.97 ± 2.52 years) (no application). Proprioception [joint position sense (JPS) with an inclinometer, force sense (force reproduction) with a hand-held dynamometer], muscle strength (biceps brachii muscle strength with a hand-held dynamometer), and functional motor performance [modified pull-up (MPU) test, closed kinetic chain upper extremity stability (CKCUES) test, and push-up test] were evaluated. Evaluations were done before and immediately after the single session application in a pretest-posttest design. We used the Student t-test to investigate between-group differences and we used the χ2 test for dichotomous data for analyses. We determined the significance level as p < 0.05. Results: JPS (p45°=0.70, p60°=0.80, p75°=0.09), force sense (p = 0.63), and muscle strength (p = 0.11) did not change after the single session of foam rolling (p > 0.05). Foam rolling did not affect the functional motor performance test (pCKCUES−average=0.78; pCKCUES−score=0.66; pCKCUES−power=0.89; pMPU=0.10; ppush−up=0.97) results (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Single session foam rolling of the biceps brachii has no effect on upper extremity sensorimotor function including elbow proprioception, strength, and upper extremity functional motor performance. Trial registration: Clinical Trials- NCT03516149 (Date: 24/04/2018)