When Tina joins family gatherings at holidays and birthdays, many family members beg her for a massage. Tina is a trained massage therapist and can soothe muscle aches, back pain, and stiff necks. Until now, the reasons for the healing effects of massage, a form of alternative medicine, were not known. A study at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, shows that massage turns off genes involved in inflammation and turns on genes that promote healing.
Benefits of massage
A massage is the kneading, pressing, and rubbing of muscles, ligaments, and tendons. Different types of massages, such as Swedish massage, trigger point massage, or deep tissue massage, are appropriate for different conditions and purposes. Besides providing stress relief, massage also relieves pain, muscle stiffness, and controls blood pressure. Massage also heals sport-related injuries and can manage anxiety and depression.
How massage heals muscle injury
Although the benefits of massage are well known to athletes, the underlying molecular and cellular mechanism remained unknown until now. Researchers recruited 11 volunteers, all young men, for a grueling cycling session that gave them sore muscles. Ten minutes after the workout, a massage therapist massaged one of the volunteer’s legs. The researchers took muscle tissue samples before the cycling session, after the massage, and three hours after the workout. All tissue samples were analyzed for gene expression. Right after exercising, they found that genes, associated with cell repair and inflammation, were turned on. But to their surprise, they found that there was a huge difference between massaged and unmassaged legs. In the massaged legs, the genes associated with inflammation were turned down, while genes involved in energy generation were turned on.
Greater use of massage
Massage enjoys an increasing popularity not just for its ability to help us unwind, but also as a tool to combat chronic pain and muscle rehabilitation. But because there was no scientific basis for the benefits of massage until now, many physicians were skeptical about recommending massage for their patients. Given the sound scientific basis for the benefits of massage, massage may now become more acceptable as a medical treatment. The researchers write: “The potential benefits of massage could be useful to a broad spectrum of individuals including the elderly, those suffering from musculoskeletal injuries, and patients with chronic inflammatory conditions” (Crane, J.D. et al.).
Sources
Crane, J.D. et al. Massage Therapy Attenuates Inflammatory Signaling After Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage. Science Translational Medicine (2012) 4, 119ra13
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/02/massages-mystery-mechanism-unmas.html?ref=hp
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/massage/SA00082
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201141710.htm