Sports and Remedial Massage is widely known to:
- Help reduce muscle tension and soreness
- Decrease perceived exertion between 48 – 72 hours after as little as 30 minutes of treatment.
- Help restore and improve joint range of motion and increase blood flow
So it stands to reason that massage is a great way to help athletes and weekend warriors
alike with their recovery. Professional sports teams and organisations all over the world spend a lot of money on their
sports medicine team to ensure their athletes have access to treatments every day and are
able to perform day after day, year after year.
However, there is little research to support that massage is beneficial in recovery. This is
due to the many possible variables including subjective nature of the results, types of
treatment, pressure, different therapists etc which makes it a difficult area to study and
lowers the validity of the research findings.
A study done by researchers at McMaster University in Canada in 2012 set out to look at the
effects of massage on a more deeper biochemical level. Justin Crane a doctoral student in
the department of kinesiology said “no one has ever looked inside the muscle to see what is
happening with massage, no one looked at the biochemical effects or what might be going
on in the muscle itself” (3). They set out to test the effects massage had on reducing
inflammation within the muscle by taking a biopsy of the muscle tissue. The study
concluded that as little as 10 minutes of massage post exercise reduces the cells
inflammatory response. They also found that massage therapy can dull muscle pain
biologically in the same way as most pain medications (3)
Another study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine concluded that massage can lower
the intensity of muscle soreness 48 hours post activity and that this is greatly beneficial
from a psychological standpoint. (1)
So whilst it seems that more research needs to be done in this area there are still many
benefits to be gained from getting a Sports and Remedial Massage post training or event.
- A reduction in inflammation helps lower muscle pain and the chance of injury.
- Reductions in pain intensity and pain perception post exercise means that you will
feel much better sooner and be able to get back into your training quicker and
therefor feel more recovered! - General wellbeing – we all know how great and relaxed you feel after a massage! So
post event/activity is the best time to get those endorphins flowing and make you
feel recovered and ready to tackle that next training session! - Stress
So if you are an athlete whether if your in your final years lead up the the Olympics or the
weekend warrior we highly recommend using massage as part of your recovery.
To learn more about Just Knead It or book in with one of our highly qualified and
experienced team, head to the website.
07 3891 7629
References:
(1) Hilbert JE, Sforzo GA, Swensen T The effects of massage on delayed onset muscle
soreness British Journal of Sports Medicine 2003;37:72-75.
(2) Robertson A, Watt JM, Galloway SDR Effects of leg massage on recovery from high
intensity cycling exercise British Journal of Sports Medicine 2004;38:173-176.
(3) https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/news/news_2012/massage_therapy_study.html
