Acute Effects of Combining Dynamic Stretching and Vibration Foam Rolling Warm-up on Lower-Limb Muscle Performance and Functions in Female Handball Players

The purpose of this study was to compare the acute effects of 3 warm-up protocols on knee flexor and extensor muscles performance in elite female collegiate handball players. Ten female handball players with poor hamstring flexibility completed 3 randomly sequenced experimental visits. During each visit, a different warm-up protocol (general running warm-up [GW], dynamic stretching [DS], or DS combined with vibration foam rolling [DS + VR]) was delivered before the subsequent tests: quadriceps and hamstring muscle stiffness, knee extension and flexion range of motion (ROM), knee joint position sense, knee extension and flexion isokinetic strength with hamstring-quadriceps strength ratio, and muscle endurance during fatiguing exercise. Relative to the GW, the DS + VR protocol resulted in significantly greater knee flexion ROM (mean +/- SD: DS + VR = 79.4 degrees +/- 7.7 degrees; GW = 69.3 degrees +/- 9.6 degrees) and lower hamstring muscle stiffness (DS + VR = 253.33 +/- 36.20 N center dot m(-1); GW = 292.89 +/- 24.28 N center dot m(-1)). In addition, the DS + VR protocol also yielded greater hamstring muscle endurance than the other 2 protocols did (fatigue percentage: DS + VR = 30.24% +/- 10.84%; GW = 41.40% +/- 8.98%; DS = 42.22% +/- 9.42%). Therefore, the results of this experiment suggest that it can be more beneficial for the female handball players to warm-up with the DS + VR, rather than the GW and DS protocols.