Massage's healing touch may have more to do with DNA than with good
hands. A new study has revealed for the first time how kneading eases
sore muscles—by turning off genes associated with inflammation and
turning on genes that help muscles heal. The discovery contradicts
popular claims that massage squeezes lactic acid or waste products out
of tired muscles and could bring new medical credibility to the
practice.
Despite massage's widespread popularity, researchers know surprisingly little about its effects on muscles. The scant evidence makes many physicians unsure, if not outright skeptical, of the method.
Mark Tarnopolsky, a neurometabolic researcher at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, recruited 11 young healthy men for his research. The subjects underwent a workout session and a massage therapist massaged one of their legs. Tissue samples from the volunteers' quadriceps muscles were taken—once before the workout, once 10 minutes after the massage, and once 3 hours after the workout—and compared the genetic profiles of each sample.
The researchers detected more indicators of cell repair and inflammation in the post-workout samples than in the pre-workout samples. Exercise activates genes associated with repair and inflammation. However, there were clear differences between the massaged legs and the unmassaged ones after exercise. The massaged legs had more genes associated with cellular energy and less genes associated with inflammation.
The results, published in Science Translational Medicine, suggest that massage suppresses the inflammation that follows exercise while promoting faster healing.
Despite massage's widespread popularity, researchers know surprisingly little about its effects on muscles. The scant evidence makes many physicians unsure, if not outright skeptical, of the method.
Mark Tarnopolsky, a neurometabolic researcher at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, recruited 11 young healthy men for his research. The subjects underwent a workout session and a massage therapist massaged one of their legs. Tissue samples from the volunteers' quadriceps muscles were taken—once before the workout, once 10 minutes after the massage, and once 3 hours after the workout—and compared the genetic profiles of each sample.
The researchers detected more indicators of cell repair and inflammation in the post-workout samples than in the pre-workout samples. Exercise activates genes associated with repair and inflammation. However, there were clear differences between the massaged legs and the unmassaged ones after exercise. The massaged legs had more genes associated with cellular energy and less genes associated with inflammation.
The results, published in Science Translational Medicine, suggest that massage suppresses the inflammation that follows exercise while promoting faster healing.
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Massage's Mystery Mechanism Unmasked - ScienceNOW
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