
How Massage Heals Sore Muscles - DanielRibeiro
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/how-massage-heals-sore-muscles/?scp=1&sq=tarnopolsky&st=cse
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acqq
The research paper:

Massage Therapy Attenuates Inflammatory Signaling After Exercise-Induced
Muscle Damage

Justin D. Crane, Daniel I. Ogborn, Colleen Cupido, Simon Melov, Alan Hubbard,
Jacqueline M. Bourgeois and Mark A. Tarnopolsky,

<http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/4/119/119ra13>

An another article about the paper:

[http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2012/02/03/massage...](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2012/02/03/massage-
doesnt-just-feel-good-it-changes-gene-expression-and-reduces-inflammation/)

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friderico
Studies like these do not seek explanations, which means that they merely
serve to entrench existing ideas.

For example, the (well-known) ideas that massage reduces soreness, and that
soreness equals inflammation.

(N.B. I'm not claiming these ideas are wrong.)

>They found that massage reduced the production of compounds called cytokines,
which play a critical role in inflammation

What would be needed is a mechanism for how massage does this.

(First you guess. Don't laugh, this is the most important step. Then you
compute the consequences... Richard Feynman.)

My guess is it works by restoring conscious attention to the relevant limbs
and muscles. In which case, it ought to be possible to reproduce the reduction
of cytokines, at least partially, by conscious effort alone. The reduction, if
any, could of course be measured.

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porter
You can also use foam rollers and lacrosse balls to get the same effect while
increasing mobility. See <http://www.mobilitywod.com/> for plenty of video
instruction.

