Examination of the Acute Effects of Foam Roller on Performance in Volleyball Players

The aim of this study is to examine the acute effects of foam roller application on some performance data after static and dynamic stretching exercises in volleyball players. 12 male athletes with an average age of 21.5±2.15, height of 1.83±1.19 and body weight of 71±3.51 participated in the study voluntarily. As an exercise protocol, Foam Roller exercises combined with static/dynamic warm-up and static-dynamic warm-up were carried out on two separate days. On the first day of the study, performance data were measured after a 10- minute warm-up run (8 minutes running, 2 minutes walking) and 5 static/5 dynamic stretching exercises (3 repetitions of each movement, 15 seconds of practice, 5 seconds of rest). On the second day, a 10-minute (8-minute run, 2-minute walk) warm-up run was performed, static/dynamic warm-up followed by a foam roller (3 repetitions of each movement, 15 seconds of practice, 5 seconds of rest). The participants' performances were evaluated with 30-meter speed, agility and flexibility measurements. Data analysis was done with SPSS 23.0 package program. Data were analyzed with a 95% confidence interval. Evaluation of the difference between different warm-up protocols was evaluated with the Wilcoxon SignedRank test. According to the measurements made, no statistically significant difference was found in the speed (z=-0,615, p=0,58), agility (z=-1,7, p=0,18) and flexibility (z=-0,398, p=0,63) parameters between the static/dynamic warm-up and static/dynamic warm-up combined Foam Roller protocols. As a result, it can be said that foam roller exercises in addition to static-dynamic warm-up do not affect the physical performance of volleyball athletes.