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Few things feel better than a whole-body massage. Its proponents
claim that it can relax anti invigorate you, remove metabolic
waste and toxins, stimulate recovery and promote better athletic
performance. And that’s the short list! But to make
things more complicated, different massage techniques have
various effects.
Three common massage techniques include effleurage, a stroking
technique in which the heels and palms of the hands glide
over the part to he massaged; petrissage, or holding the affected
tissue between the thumb and forefinger while you roll, lift
and twist it; and tapotement, which involves cupping or percussive-type
action. Deep transverse friction massage involves massaging
the site of a lesion (where scar tissue may be forming, for
example) anti facilitates normal collagen alignment in tendons
and ligaments.
Certainly, massage makes you feel good, but what are some
of its physiological effects? Proponents of massage are challenged
to provide specific mechanisms for the purported benefits,
but does science support the multitude of claims made by massage
therapists
LACTIC-ACID REMOVAL
Lactic acid is one of the most misunderstood chemicals in
our bodies. It’s accused of being a metabolic poison
that needs to he eliminated, and is blamed for the soreness
we feel the day or two after intense exercise. (Actually,
the soreness is caused by tearing of myofibrils) Proponents
of massage often claim that it helps rid the muscles of lactic
acid.
In a study conducted at the University of Northern Iowa in
Cedar Falls, 22 men ran to exhaustion, then either 1) recovered
passively in a supine position, 2) rode a bike at a very low
intensity or 3) had their legs massaged by a certified massage
therapist. Researchers drew blood from the test subjects and
determined their lactate (lactic acid) levels at three, five,
nine, 15 and 20 minutes postexercise. Low-intensity cycling
was found to be best for lowering blood lactate levels, and
no difference existed between blood levels of subjects who
recovered passively and had massage.
This study doesn’t suggest that massage is useless for
athletes, but does show that its effects may have little to
do with the removal of lactic acid. This makes sense if lactic
acid doesn’t cause muscle soreness.
DECREASING MUSCLE SORENESS
We all get sort painful muscles, and a deep, thorough massage
may be your therapy of choice. But does it really diminish
pain, or is it all in our heads?
In a study from the University of Mississippi Medical Center,
40 untrained female subjects performed negatives on biceps
curls until they fatigued. In untrained subjects, this will
definitely cause delayed-onset muscle soreness! Then they
were treated” in one of three ways: upper-body exercise
(arm cycling), massage or electrical stimulation immediately
after exercise and 24 hours later. A control group wasn’t
treated. Researchers found that each of the four groups rated
their soreness the same! Neither massage nor exercise decreased
muscle soreness felt one day later.
In another study, a combination of warm-up, stretching and
massage was found to decrease the soreness after eccentric
exercise. Yet the effects are hard to predict and often inconsistent.
So does massage help or not? Well, with regard to a “measurable”
difference in soreness, seemingly no.
IMPROVING BLOOD FLOW
The data are equivocal on this one. A recently published study
from Laurier University in Canada found that massage had no
effect on limb blood flow. According to Peter M. Tiidus, PhD,
“Light quadriceps contractions were far more effective
in improving blood flow than manual massage itself.”
WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?
A dearth of science is often used to support a multitude of
claims through-out the fitness and health-related fields.
Massage is no different. Little scientific evidence shows
that massage significantly enhances the recovery process.
On the other hand, massage may promote the proliferation of
fibroblasts (cells involved in laying down collagen an important
component of connective tissue). Massage might enhance the
healing process by recruiting these cells, but the evidence
is inconclusive at this point.
Nonetheless, massage could be an important component of any
athlete’s total training package. You’re thinking,
there is no science to back it up. Well, it doesn’t
seem to have much physiological effect, but hey, if massage
makes you feel better, that may be reason enough to use it
as a therapeutic modality. As far as its effect on muscle
goes, wait a decade or so science may have yindicated it by
then.
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