Sports massage has always been part of my injury prevention and recovery strategy – and now a new study, from McMaster University in Canada, suggests that the benefits aren’t just psychological.
In the study, cyclists rode to exhaustion and then had one leg massaged while the other was left alone. Biopsies were taken from the quadriceps muscles in both legs prior to cycling, immediately after the massage and 2.5 hours later. When the samples were analysed, there was less inflammation in the massaged leg as well as greater biogenesis of mitochondria (the energy-producing units in muscle cells), suggesting better recovery from and adaptation to vigorous exercise.