Healing Massage

An indulgent massage does more than just make you feel good – it can actually improve muscle recovery. The extent to which physical stimulation boosts muscle repair following injury is debated, with limited concrete evidence. A new study has examined the process in injured mice, with a precision robotic masseuse applying pressure to injured leg muscles. Researchers observed the response at the cellular level and found that mice treated to the mechanical spa recovered faster. The compression affected the body’s immune activity, clearing out populations of immune cells and their products that protect damaged regions but cause inflammation and impede the growth of new muscle tissue. Massaged tissue (right) showed fibre composition comparable to healthy muscle, and very different to untreated mice (left). This study suggests that treatment helps restore proper muscle function which could improve broad treatment strategies for tissue regeneration, and provide one more reason to treat yourself.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

Website

• Image by Wyss Institute at Harvard University
• Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
• Image copyright held by the original authors
• Research by Bo Ri Seo et al, Science Translational Medicine, October 2021