Muscle Massage Rubs Out Inflammation
By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Published: February 02, 2012
Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.
Action Points
· Heavily stressed muscles responded to massage therapy with a variety of biologic changes associated with reduced inflammation.
· Note that massage also was associated with activation of signaling pathways involved in stretch response and mitochondrial biogenesis.
Heavily stressed muscles responded to massage therapy with a variety of biologic changes associated with reduced inflammation, analysis of tissue specimens showed.
Serial quadriceps-muscle biopsies showed reduced production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and interleukin-6 (IL-6) following massage treatment of exercise-induced muscle damage.
Massage also was associated with activation of signaling pathways involved in stretch response and mitochondrial biogenesis, as reported online in Science Translational Medicine.
"Our findings suggest that the perceived positive effects of massage are a result of an attenuated production of inflammatory cytokines, which may reduce pain by the same mechanism as conventional anti-inflammatory drugs such as NSAIDs," according to Mark A. Tarnopolsky, MD, PhD, of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and colleagues.
"These results elucidate the biological effects of massage in skeletal muscle and provide evidence that manipulative therapies may be justifiable in medical practice."
The role of complementary and alternative medicine, including massage therapy, has expanded greatly as an adjunct to conventional medical practice. For many of the techniques, however, there is limited evidence regarding cellular or mechanistic effects to support their clinical use, the authors wrote in their introduction.
Massage therapy has been widely used as an aid to reduce pain and promote recovery of injured muscles. Hypothesized effects of massage have included moderation of inflammation, improved blood flow, and reduced tissue stiffness, all contributing to pain reduction, the authors continued.
No comments:
Post a Comment