Relaxation techniques in sports: A systematic review on acute effects on performance

Abstract Objectives The aim was to provide an overview on the current state of research on acute effects of relaxation techniques in sports. Design A systematic review of randomized controlled trials was conducted. Methods PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and SPORTDiscus were searched until August 2014. Additionally, reference lists of retrieved articles and relevant reviews were hand searched. To be included articles had to examine the effects of relaxation techniques on performance in sports. Furthermore, they had to be published in English, in a peer-reviewed journal, available full text online, and designed as either treatment outcome, clinical trial, and/or randomized controlled trial. The d…