Effectiveness of sports massage for recovery of skeletal muscle from strenuous exercise
One article on PainSci cites Best 2008: Post-Exercise, Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness
PainSci notes on Best 2008:
This review of studies of massage for DOMS found “moderate data supporting its use” — continuing the pattern of damning massage for DOMS with faint praise and pulling a barely-positive conclusion out of weak data.
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
OBJECTIVE: Sport massage, a manual therapy for muscle and soft tissue pain and weakness, is a popular and widely used modality for recovery after intense exercise. Our objective is to determine the effectiveness of sport massage for improving recovery after strenuous exercise.
DATA SOURCES: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL using all current and historical names for sport massage. Reference sections of included articles were scanned to identify additional relevant articles.
STUDY SELECTION: Study inclusion criteria required that subjects (1) were humans, (2) performed strenuous exercise, (3) received massage, and (4) were assessed for muscle recovery and performance. Ultimately, 27 studies met inclusion criteria.
DATA EXTRACTION: Eligible studies were reviewed, and data were extracted by the senior author (TMB). The main outcomes extracted were type and timing of massage and outcome measures studied.
DATA SYNTHESIS: Data from 17 case series revealed inconsistent results. Most studies evaluating post-exercise function suggest that massage is not effective, whereas studies that also evaluated the symptoms of DOMS did show some benefit. Data from 10 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) do, however, provide moderate evidence for the efficacy of massage therapy. The search identified no trend between type and timing of massage and any specific outcome measures investigated.
CONCLUSIONS: Case series provide little support for the use of massage to aid muscle recovery or performance after intense exercise. In contrast, RCTs provide moderate data supporting its use to facilitate recovery from repetitive muscular contractions. Further investigation using standardized protocols measuring similar outcome variables is necessary to more conclusively determine the efficacy of sport massage and the optimal strategy for its implementation to enhance recovery following intense exercise.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Relationships Between Sleep Quality and Pain-Related Factors for People with Chronic Low Back Pain: Tests of Reciprocal and Time of Day Effects. Gerhart 2017 Ann Behav Med.
- Modulation in the elastic properties of gastrocnemius muscle heads in individuals with plantar fasciitis and its relationship with pain. Zhou 2020 Sci Rep.
- Association Between Plantar Fasciitis and Isolated Gastrocnemius Tightness. Nakale 2018 Foot Ankle Int.
- No Added Benefit of Combining Dry Needling With Guideline-Based Physical Therapy When Managing Chronic Neck Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Stieven 2020 J Orthop Sports Phys Ther.
- Effectiveness of customised foot orthoses for Achilles tendinopathy: a randomised controlled trial. Munteanu 2015 Br J Sports Med.