Does massage help tense muscles or muscle soreness?

A lot of clients visit it us in clinic with tense muscles, which over time can lead to achy muscles and this in turn can then lead to episodes of muscle pain.  Muscle tension refers to the condition in which muscles of the body remain semi-contracted for an extended period.  Muscle tension is frequently caused by the physiological effects of stress.  Massage is well documented to reduce muscle tension  (see top two references).  In addition what is also known to help are

  1. hot baths
  2. yoga
  3. stretching

Muscle soreness, or to be more precise delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is the stiffness and sometimes pain felt in muscles 24 to 72 hours after exercise, sporting or physical activity.  If you are someone that is prone to DOMS reading my previous blog posts may help:

Many athletes believe that sports massage helps DOMS and there is scientific evidence to supports this.  (See bottom 4 references).

References
Longworth JCD.  Psychophysiological effects of slow stroke back massage in normotensive females.  Advances in Nursing Science. 1982 July: 44 – 66
Valentine KE. Massage in psychological medicine – modern use of an ancient art.  New Zealand Journal of Physiotherapy. 1984; 12: 15 – 16
Ernst E. Does post-exercise massage treatment reduce delayed onset muscle soreness? A systematic review. Br J Sports Med 1998; 32(3): 212-4.
Ernst E. Manual therapies for pain control: chiropractic and massage. Clin J Pain 2004; 20(1):8-12.
O’Connor R, Hurley D. The effectiveness of physiotherapeutic interventions in the management of delayed-onset muscle soreness: a systematic review. Phys Ther Rev 2003; 8(4): 177-95.
Wright A, Sluka K. Nonpharmacological treatments for musculoskeletal pain. Clin J Pain 2001; 17(1): 33-46.

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