Massage helps relieve pain in damaged muscles by sending anti-inflammation messages to muscle cells.
Athletes have long sought massages to relieve pain and promote recovery. Despite reports that long-term massage therapy reduces chronic pain such as back pain, the biological effects of massage on muscles weren’t known.
Now scientists have found evidence at the cellular level that massage blunts muscle pain in a similar way to anti-inflammatory pills.
www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/02/01/massage-muscle-repair.html