Long-Term-Effects of Training-Accompanied Myofascial Self-Massage on Health Complaints, Symptoms of Overload, and Training Compatibility in Recreational Cyclists

Background/Objectives: Cycling has become a popular recreational sport, but it can lead to injuries and overload syndromes. The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a training-accompanied myofascial self-massage intervention on two primary outcomes: injury occurrence and perceived training intensity. Methods: To achieve this goal, we conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 35 cyclists. A difference-in-differences (DiD) regression analysis was employed to analyze the effects of the intervention. Results: The DiD analysis revealed, on the one hand, no statistically significant effect of the intervention on the overall injury score. On the other hand, the intervention group showed a significantly smaller increase in perceived training intensity compared to the control group, supporting the hypothesis that myofascial self-massage decreases the perception of training intensity. In one of our strongest models, which estimated the impact of the intervention from baseline to the second post-test, we observed an adjusted R-squared value of 0.89 and an interaction term coefficient of 1.35 at a significance level of p < 0.01. This indicates that, on average, the increase in perceived training intensity was 1.35 points higher (on a scale of 0 to 10) in the control group than in the intervention group. Conclusions: This study found no evidence to support the effectiveness of a training-accompanied myofascial self-massage in reducing injury levels, but it demonstrated that the intervention may reduce perceived training intensity. Future studies with larger sample sizes and more objective injury tracking methods are needed to further explore these findings and their long-term implications for injury prevention in cycling.