The effect of dry cupping on delayed onset muscle soreness and shoulder joint flexibility among healthy bodybuilders: A quasi-experimental studyرسالة ماجستير

Abstract

Background: Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is an unavoidable outcome of exercise and physical activity for athletes, it is also one of the most important problems facing bodybuilders, due to exposure to muscle tension after exercising with high weights. Dry cupping could have a beneficial effect on delayed muscle soreness and shoulder joint. Objective: This study investigated the effect of dry cupping on reducing delayed muscle soreness and improving shoulder joint flexibility to understand how they relate to creating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle and preventing injuries among bodybuilders. Methods: a quantitative/quasi-experimental study induced 40 participants physically fit and healthy (all males; aged between 20-40), and completed an exercise protocol to induce delayed onset muscle soreness and a decrease in shoulder flexibility. Intervention: A 7-minute and one-time session dry cupping treatment was performed on each participant on the trapezius (UT, MT, LT) and deltoid (AD, MD, PD) muscles after identifying trigger points after each group had undergone a pre-test and post-test after 48-72 hours. Primary outcome measures: Each participant underwent a pre-test in which we measured delayed muscle soreness with a pain pressure threshold device, and shoulder range of motion through shoulder flexibility test and we measured pain intensity through visual analog scale (VAS). vi Results: dry cupping increases the flexibility of the shoulder joint by increasing (C7) in the dominant part, as it reached (C7) in the pre-test (7.43) versus (9.70) in the post-test, and the difference was in favor of the post-test, this means that an increase in (C7) of the dominant part leads to increased flexibility of the shoulder joint. Cohen's d value was (1.91), which means that dry cupping has a significant effect in increasing the flexibility of the shoulder joint, also there are no differences that are statistically significant on level (0.05) in the averages of the scores of the respondents before and after using dry cupping that decrease delayed muscle soreness due to the age. Where the value of statistical significance for M trap before using dry cupping was (0.130), which is greater than (0.05) and not statistically significant, and the value of statistical significance for M trap after using dry cupping was (0.103), which is greater than (0.05) and not statistically significant. This indicates that the change in M trap does not differ with different age levels. Conclusion: Dry cupping may help decrease hypoxia and hemoglobin levels as well as boost hemoglobin levels. This enhances local oxygen intake and promotes blood microcirculation and circulatory activity. This could be related to the significant impact of sports cupping on the performance of bodybuilders. Dry cupping helps in increasing the efficiency of the small blood circulation, which increases the ability of red blood cells to carry more oxygen.