Effects of isometric exercise on delayed onset muscle soreness

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of isometric exercise on delayed muscle pain. Forty people participated in the study. Participants were selected from Yeditepe University Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Department students on a voluntary basis. Participants who were eligible to participate in the study according to inclusion and exclusion criteria were divided into two groups as isometric exercise group and control group by lot. In order to cause delayed onset muscle soreness, an exercise program used in the literature was applied. The group selected for the isometric exercise was taught by the physiotherapist about the isometric exercise program they will perform throughout the process. Muscle soreness, pressure pain threshold, edema, range of motion and muscle strength were evaluated before, immediately after exercise, on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th days. As a result we found that, isometric exercise reduced soreness on day 1 (p=0.000) and day 3 (p=0.000), and improvement in pressure pain threshold was faster in isometric exercise group, pressure pain threshold was higher in the isometric exercise group on day 3 (p=0.050), increase in range of motion was found to be higher in the isometric exercise group from Day 3 to Day 5 (p=0.025).. In the other parameters, there was no difference between the isometric exercise group and the control group.