The Pain & Therapy Bibliography, Record ID 0863 {show all records}
Massage Impairs Post Exercise Muscle Blood Flow and "Lactic Acid" Removal
most detailed summaries by Paul Ingraham
summary
One of the classic claims of massage therapy is that it “aids muscle recovery from exercise … by increasing muscle blood flow to improve ‘lactic acid’ removal.” Unfortunately, new evidence shows that just the opposite is probably the case. This straightforward experiment subjected twelve people to intense hand-gripping exercises and then measured their blood acidity with and without basic sports massage. Their measurements showed that massage significantly “impairs lactic acid and hydrogen ion removal from muscle following strenuous exercise by mechanically impeding blood flow.”
That’s quite a surprising result that applies a firm push to the side of a classic sacred cow of massage lore. (Note that good corroborating evidence was published again in 2012: see Crane et al.)
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PURPOSE: This study tested the hypothesis that one of the ways sports massage aids muscle recovery from exercise is by increasing muscle blood flow to improve "lactic acid" removal.
METHODS: Twelve subjects performed 2 min of strenuous isometric handgrip exercise (IHG) at 40% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) to elevate forearm muscle lactic acid. Forearm blood flow (FBF; Doppler and Echo ultrasound of the brachial artery), and deep venous forearm blood lactate and H concentration ([La-], [H]) were measured every minute for 10 min post-IHG under three conditions: Passive (passive rest), Active (rhythmic exercise at 10% MVC), and Massage (effleurage and petrissage). Arterialized [La] and [H] from a superficial heated hand vein was measured at baseline.
RESULTS: Data are mean +/-SE. Veno-arterial [La] difference ([La]v-a) at 30 s post-IHG was the same across conditions (mmol/L; Passive 6.1 +/-0.6, Active 5.7 +/-0.6 mmol/L, Massage 5.5 +/-0.6, NS), while FBF (ml/min) was greater in Passive (766 +/-101) vs. Active 614 +/-62 (P=0.003) and vs. Massage 540 +/-60 (P<0.0001). Total FBF area under the curve (AUC; ml) for 10 min post handgrip was significantly higher in Passive vs. Massage (4203 +/-531 vs. 3178 +/-304, P=0.024) but not vs. Active (3584 +/-284, P=0.217). La- efflux (mmol; FBF x [La]v-a) AUC mirrored FBF AUC (Passive 20.5 +/-2.8 vs. Massage 14.7 +/-1.6, P=0.03 vs. Active 15.4 +/-1.9, P=0.064). H+ efflux (mmol; FBF x [H]v-a) was greater in Passive vs. Massage at 30 s (2.2 +/-0.4 e-5 vs. 1.3 +/-0.2 e-5, P<'0.001) and 1.5 min ( 1.0 +/-0.2 e-5 vs. 0.6 +/-0.09 e-5, P=0.003) post-IHG.
CONCLUSION: Massage impairs La- and H+ removal from muscle following strenuous exercise by mechanically impeding blood flow.
related content
About this item:
“Response to Queen’s Study,” a webpage on CSMTA.ca.
These four articles on SaveYourself.ca cite this paper as a source: