Massage fans can take (even more) comfort -- a genetic study confirms kneading muscles reduces inflammation and spurs cellular energy-production.

About 18 million people nationwide undergo therapeutic massage yearly, notes the Science Translational Medicine journal report led by Justin Crane of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. However, "(d)espite several reports that long-term massage therapy reduces chronic pain and improves range of motion in clinical trials, the biological effects of massage on skeletal muscle tissue remain unclear."

So in the study, therapists massaged 11 male athlete volunteers after they had exercised to exhaustion. Each athlete had one thigh massaged and the other left alone. The researchers then took comparative biopsies from both legs of the men afterwards.

The results? Massaged muscle cells had higher activation of gene pathways that spurred the growth of mitochondria, the powerhouses of cells. And massaged muscles showed fewer signs of painful inflammation. "There's general agreement that massage feels good, now we have a scientific basis for the experience," said study co-author Simon Melov, in a statement.

The only unexpected finding was that massage didn't lower levels of lactic acid build-up in muscles often blamed for the "burn" in exercise. "Now that we know something about how massage heals, perhaps we will soon get some idea of why it is so enjoyable," concluded a journal editor's statement on the research.

Update: It's worth noting that some science blogs have expressed skepticism over the massage study methodology and results.

"The authors might be correct in their interpretation (about inflammation), but what I see more than anything else is probably either noise or a mild effect that is probably not clinically significant," concluded Respectful Insolence, for example.