Why can muscle soreness be cured by massage?

I don't know if you usually experience muscle soreness. If it is too uncomfortable, a massage will greatly relieve it. But why does massage have such magical effects?

In fact, many daily activities can cause muscle damage, and this is especially true if you suddenly start exercising after not exercising for a long time. We may think that muscle soreness is just the result of lactic acid accumulation, but there are actually three factors that play a key role in the process of muscle damage.

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The first is lactic acid accumulation. If you start exercising suddenly or exercise too much at one time, muscle cells will produce a large amount of lactic acid. Excessive accumulation of lactic acid will cause muscle soreness .

The second is the damage to the connective tissue. After strenuous exercise, the connective tissue in the body will be torn into small pieces, which will cause pain . This is why you may feel pain when you move around in the next few days after exercise, or even be so exaggerated that you can't get out of bed.

The last reason is inflammation, which occurs in all injured areas. It is the body's way of dealing with injury. The body increases the production of immune cells, which release substances that affect the sensitivity of nerve endings, leading to muscle soreness .

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After understanding these causes of muscle soreness, we can understand how massage works. After analyzing the causes of muscle soreness at the molecular signaling level, researchers found that massage can effectively reduce the content of inflammatory compounds in muscle tissue. In addition, massage can also increase the metabolic rate of muscle cells, shorten the repair time of damaged muscle cells, and reduce body pain .

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Having said that, I believe you understand how massage works. See you next time.

Reviewer: Tang Qin, Director and Researcher of the Science Popularization Department of the Chinese Medical Association