Massage for Fitness?

We are advocates of massage. We make it part of our fitness routine and we consider it to be maintenance for keeping our bodies healthy for another couple of weeks of hard workouts. What, though, is massage all about?

Massage reportedly began in the mid 19th century in the United States. (1,000's of years prior to that it was used in China). Massage was also in use in the U.S. in the 60's and 70's by nurses to aid in pain reduction and sleep. In the 70's it became synonymous with sports for pre-, during, and post events. 1984 was the first time it was televised while being performed on athletes at an Olympic event. In 1996 it became a core medical service provided to the US Olympic Team. Jump forward to 2009 and it was reported to be a $6 billion industry! Massage has come a long way in our culture! It is an activity to do while on vacation for many but for an athlete it is a necessary part of the routine. Massage is reported to alleviate muscle soreness. Is that true? Does pre-event massage really enhance sports performance? What are the benefits of massage?


Massage for Muscle Soreness

It was commonly thought that massage after a hard workout would push lactic acid out of the muscles and that toxins were being flushed out of your muscles and into the bloodstream. This is what most of us thought was relieving our muscle soreness. You do get relief to some degree from post workout soreness but science now shows that it is not from removal of lactic acid and toxins. It is physiologically impossible for toxins to be flushed from the muscles to the bloodstream. One study reported on by Mens Fitness illustrates the point. It put 11 healthy young men through a strenuous workout. Biopsies of both leg muscles were taken before and after exercise and then 10 minutes after Swedish style massage. The massages were given following the workout. They found that two genes in the muscles were affected. One gene decreased muscle inflammation caused by the workout. The second increased the production of mitochondria which uses oxygen and broken down products of food to generate energy needed by the cells for repair. An interesting side note in this article stated that ice baths and anti-inflammatory medications also provide relief but do not help the muscles repair and grow like massage does. In this study, lactic acid levels did not decrease. So those long lines at the marathons are not for nothing.  Those runners are in fact helping their muscles repair and recover more quickly. By the way, if you have ever run a long distance and gotten in one of those lines then you know those massages don't feel wonderful on a hurting body but they do help the recovery and that is good news to any athlete because a grounded athlete is an unhappy athlete.


Massage for Sports Performance

The idea with pre-performance massage is that it may prevent injury, improve or increase performance, and put the performer in a mental state conducive for the performance. The North American Journal of Sports Physical Therapy provided some information about studies that indicate that some types of massage may enhance performance in some sports such as those that require vertical movement. Whether the benefits that may enhance performance are directly related to the muscles or whether it is related to other physiological responses resulting from massage remains to be decided. Research and studies are limited, and of those that are available, there appear to be some flaws. So jury says....yes in some cases it improves performance but not in all cases. It is hard to tell if it actually prevents injury. What it does do is work out some of the pre-performance jitters.



Benefits of Massage

Repeated pressure to muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia translates to relaxed muscles. Adhesions between fascia and muscles are removed. Immune systems are boosted. Cortisol (the stress hormone) typically lowers along with other hormones that are indicators of being relaxed. Lowered cortisol also means less chronic inflammation which indicates lowered risk of heart attacks, stroke, cancers and other chronic diseases. Massage can reduce anxiety (blood pressure lowers) and depression (neurotransmitters dopamine-happiness & seratonin-tranquility increases), creating a feeling of well being. Sleep can improve. Short massage sessions of 10-15 minutes can make you more alert (maybe a massage therapist should be part of every staff;) Massage may also reduce headache and other body ache pain. Massage is also very helpful to those under going cancer treatment as it can relieve fatigue, pain, nausea and depression. It also speeds up recovery of muscles post workout. It has also been beneficial for digestive disorders, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain syndrome, nerve pain...and the list goes on.

There is so much more to massage than we have been able to put in this blog but we hope this is a start in providing you with a better idea about the benefits of massage and if you already knew all of this then we hope it reinforces the benefits of making it part of your lifestyle if you can.

Maybe it is time to book a massage!;)