From: www.burnsidenews.com
By:  Ryan Young

There is a new study that's being sent and shared amongst my peers, spreading like wildfire, regarding the effects of massage therapy on Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (i.e.. DOMS). So I thought I would present some of the facts.
To be perfectly honest, what goes on inside the muscles and soft tissues after exercise is hugely complex and for all intents and purposes, poorly understood.
There are many "common sense" explanations that we're familiar with for what happens after intense exercise, but none come close to being complete.
For years, it has been claimed that massage therapy applied after intense exercise will reduce the effects of DOMS. The claim to fame here has been that massage therapy does so by means of manually increasing circulation and thereby removing lactic acid from the muscles.
The truth here is that isn't what happens. Massage therapy has not, in a controlled research setting, been found to significantly reduce the amount of lactic acid in the muscles after intense exercise. In fact, there's evidence from a Queen's University study in 2009 that while the muscles are in that sore and tender state, aggressive massage techniques can actually decrease circulation to those muscles. This would sort of make sense given that lactic acid is a "chemical irritant" to the tissues and the body wouldn't want to allow it to circulate freely in the tissues.
Then why do some athletes swear by their post-event massage?
Well, we do know that appropriately applied massage techniques do something positive for those sore muscles after exercise. The challenge is to understand how and to what extent this occurs.
The Queen's University study did suggest that massage therapy in conjunction with active recovery (i.e.. low intensity aerobic exercise or a cool down) shows significant results. This is what we often see on TV when NHL hockey players are being interviewed while riding the bikes. So, at best, massage therapy – when applied appropriately – may alleviate excess muscle tension that otherwise obstructs free circulatory flow.
The currently circulating study out of McMaster University in Hamilton, ON shows something new that does hold potential support for the use of massage therapy post-exercise. The study shows that massage actually reduces inflammatory agents associated with muscle damage from intense exercise and facilitates tissue regeneration.
As a step in the right direction, this study will hopefully give rise to further investigation into the ways that massage therapy can help to manage the effects of the torture we subject ourselves to.

Connie, Stevenswood Indigo Eco-Spa