What is the effect of percussive massage treatment (PMT) on recovery from delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) in physically active young men, compared to static stretching and shorter duration PMT?
Percussive Massage Gun, a randomized controlled trial (Front Public Health 2025, PMID 40206177) — at 48 hours post-intervention (P4), the L-PMT group showed significantly greater jump height, peak ground reaction force, and propulsion impulse during CMJ compared to both SS and S-PMT groups. The abstract for Percussive Massage Gun states no limitations.
Source: Front Public Health 2025, PMID 40206177 ↗ · Research map · How Magellan grades evidence · evidence confidence: medium
Front Public Health · 2025 · PMID 40206177 · DOI 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1561970
Longer duration percussive massage therapy (40 minutes) is more effective than static stretching or shorter duration percussive massage (25 minutes) for recovering from delayed onset muscle soreness.
The question
What is the effect of percussive massage treatment (PMT) on recovery from delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) in physically active young men, compared to static stretching and shorter duration PMT?
What they tested
The study implicitly hypothesizes that PMT, particularly longer durations, will be more effective than static stretching for DOMS recovery.
How they did it
Thirty physically active male college students were randomized into three groups: static stretching (SS), short-duration PMT (S-PMT, 25 min), and long-duration PMT (L-PMT, 40 min). DOMS was induced via squats. Measurements of pain (VAS), knee joint range of motion (ROM), countermovement jump (CMJ), and integrated electromyography (iEMG) were taken at baseline, post-DOMS, post-intervention, 24h post-intervention, and 48h post-intervention.
What they found
At 48 hours post-intervention (P4), the L-PMT group showed significantly greater jump height, peak ground reaction force, and propulsion impulse during CMJ compared to both SS and S-PMT groups. Normalized iEMGs of three muscles in the L-PMT group were significantly lower than in both S-PMT and SS groups at P4. The L-PMT group also had significantly lower VAS scores and greater knee joint ROM than the SS group at P4.
| Jump Height (L-PMT vs SS) | 8.691 | |
|---|---|---|
| Jump Height (L-PMT vs S-PMT) | 4.37 | |
| Peak Ground Reaction Force (L-PMT vs SS) | 19.174 | |
| Peak Ground Reaction Force (L-PMT vs S-PMT) | 14.334 | |
| Propulsion Impulse (L-PMT vs SS) | 8.302 | |
| Propulsion Impulse (L-PMT vs S-PMT) | 4.517 | |
| iEMG VM (L-PMT vs S-PMT) | -5.692 | |
| iEMG RF (L-PMT vs S-PMT) | -8.222 | |
| iEMG VL (L-PMT vs S-PMT) | -10 | |
| iEMG VM (L-PMT vs SS) | -12 | |
| iEMG RF (L-PMT vs SS) | -11.384 | |
| iEMG VL (L-PMT vs SS) | -15 | |
| VAS Score (L-PMT vs SS) | -1.53 | |
| Knee ROM (L-PMT vs SS) | 4.77 |
Cohen's d values illustrating the effect sizes of the long-duration PMT group compared to static stretching and short-duration PMT groups for various recovery metrics at 48 hours post-intervention. Positive values indicate L-PMT was better, negative values indicate L-PMT had lower iEMG or VAS scores.
What it means
Percussive massage treatment (PMT) is more effective than static stretching for DOMS recovery. Specifically, two 40-minute PMT sessions provided greater benefits than two 25-minute sessions for treating DOMS.
Limitations
The abstract does not explicitly state any limitations of the study.
Where the published abstract does not list limitations, we say so rather than inventing them. Read the full paper on PubMed before drawing conclusions.
The paper at a glance
| Title | Effect of percussion massage therapy on recovery of delayed onset muscle soreness: a randomized controlled trial |
|---|---|
| Journal | Front Public Health |
| Year | 2025 |
| PMID | 40206177 ↗ |
| DOI | 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1561970 ↗ |
| Topic | General aging biology & healthspan |
Read the source: PubMed record (authors, abstract, full citation) ↗ · Publisher via doi.org ↗
Where Magellan uses this paper
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Percussive Massage Gun
Systematic reviews of controlled trials indicate that percussive massage acutely increases joint range of motion and flexibility without reducing strength, and randomized trials report less muscle stiffness and soreness and faster recovery after fatiguing exercise.
A percussive massage gun (a percussive- or vibration-therapy device) is a handheld motorized tool that…
Research describes the compound or intervention studied. It is not a claim about any specific product.
Cite this page
These citations point at this summary. To cite the original paper with its full author list, use the PubMed record or doi.org.
Magellan Longevity. (2026). What is the effect of percussive massage treatment (PMT) on recovery from delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) in physically active young men, compared to static stretching and shorter duration PMT? [Plain-English summary of Front Public Health 2025, PMID 40206177, DOI 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1561970]. Magellan Longevity. https://magellanlongevity.com/study/d40206177.html@misc{magellan_d40206177,
title = {What is the effect of percussive massage treatment (PMT) on recovery from delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) in physically active young men, compared to static stretching and shorter duration PMT?},
author = {{Magellan Longevity}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://magellanlongevity.com/study/d40206177.html}},
note = {Plain-English summary of PubMed PMID 40206177; DOI 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1561970; Front Public Health 2025. Reviewed by Gabriel Radu, DO},
urldate = {2026-08-11}
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