1. Original Scientific Paper Comparison of Effect of Six Minutes of Effleurage and Kneading Massage on Alpha Motoneuronal Excitability in Normal Healthy Individuals Posted by S. Singh, A.G.K. Sinha Abstract There remains a dearth of scientifically documented evidence about the effects of massage on muscle tone mainly due to non-availability of sensitive and reliable tool for objective measurement of tone. Presently, H-reflex is considered as reliable tool to objectively measure motoneuronal excitability hence muscle tone. The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the effects of 6 minutes of effleurage massage and 6 minutes of kneading massage on muscle tone as measured by changes in amplitude of H-reflex recordings. Seventeen healthy volunteers (8 male, 9 female, = 26.53 +- 5.67 years of age) participated in the study. H-reflexes were recorded immediately before and after application of massage technique, peak to peak amplitude of ten H- reflexes was selected for analysis. The Student’s t- test was used for comparison of pre and post-massage values of H-reflex amplitude and also for comparison between mean difference values for H-reflex amplitude of both massage interventions. Significant decrease in H-amplitude was observed after 6 min of effleurage massage (t=3.57, p=0.05), reduction in H-amplitude albeit non-significant was also observed after 6 min of kneading massage(t=0.69, p=0.05). Further comparison of mean difference values of H-amplitude for both massage techniques showed non-significant differences (t- 1.99, p=0.05) hence neither of massage technique proved to be effective over other in decreasing reflex activity of muscle. Download Complete Article