Massage therapy is commonly used during physical rehabilitation of skeletal muscle to ameliorate pain and promote recovery from injury. Although there is evidence that massage may relieve pain in injured muscle, how massage affects cellular function remains unknown.

However, the results of research involving massage at McMastersUniversity in Canada were published in the February 1 issue of Science Translational Medicine[1], and they are quite revealing. A group of young participants exercised for 70 minutes to exhaustion, thus experiencing exercise-induced muscle damage.

After just 10 minutes of massage to one of the legs there was decreased muscle tissue inflammation in the muscle, as compared to the other leg that didn’t receive massage.

Researchers found that massage not only reduced the production of cytokine, a compound involved with inflammation, but at the same time provoked mitochondrial biogenesis, leading to enhanced cell function and repair that helps muscles adapt to the demands of increased exercise.

Dr. Mark A. Tarnopolsky, senior author of the study said: “With massage, you can have your cake and eat it, too – massage can suppress inflammation and actually enhance cell recovery.”

Here is co-researcher Simon Melov, a molecular biologist at the Buck Institute:

[1] Crane JD, Ogborn DI, Cupido C, Melov S, Hubbard A, Bourgeois JM and Tarnopolsky MA. Massage Therapy Attenuates Inflammatory Signaling After Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage. Sci Transl Med 4, 119ra13 (2012).