Massage accelerates the healing process
Saturday 02 October 2021
Muscles can frequently become inflamed through injury, stress or over-vigorous exercise. Tiny tears are created in the muscle fibres, causing an immune reaction which manifests as inflammation. This produces tightness, which in turn can restrict blood flow. It can take a long time to heal on its own, and there's no need to wait for that.
Professional masseurs perform two important functions. Firstly, they identify the problem area. This may seem obvious to you if it's already uncomfortable or hurting, but a pro will know how surrounding, or vicarious, areas also play a part. The body is a series of components, all joined in some way, all aware of each other and able to influence each other. In a healthy body, everything flows - there are no 'blockages'.
So the second function of the masseur is targeted unblocking, breaking down, freeing up and getting everything flowing again. This can speed up the healing process considerably. It also makes you feel good!
Much more has been researched and understood over recent decades. Flushing inflammatory cells from injured muscle tissue gets things moving again and, even more crucially, encourages the muscles to take over and repair themselves. This has been studied under laboratory conditions, where mechanical stimulation, or massage, was shown to double the rate of muscle regeneration.