SPORT MASSAGE AND PERCEIVED BODY RELAXATION IN SCHOOL PENCAK SILAT ATHLETES

Abstract

This study examined changes in perceived body relaxation after sport massage among male athletes in the standardized solo-artistic pencak silat extracurricular program at SMKN 3 Selong. Materials and Methods: A one-group pretest–posttest design involved 10 purposively selected athletes aged 16–19 years. Relaxation was assessed with a five-point Likert questionnaire before and after a standardized sport-massage session. Category distributions were summarized descriptively, and paired scores were compared at the 5% significance level. Results: The distribution shifted from discomfort and neutral responses toward comfortable and very comfortable responses after massage. The paired analysis identified a statistically significant increase in relaxation, with a large standardized within-participant change. Conclusions: Sport massage was associated with greater perceived relaxation immediately after treatment. The finding supports massage as an optional recovery strategy for subjective comfort, but controlled research with validated outcomes is required before causal or performance benefits can be claimed.