Manual massage is commonly assumed to enhance long term muscle recovery from intense
exercise, partly due to its ability to speed healing via enhanced muscle blood flow.
We tested these assumptions by daily (for four days) massaging the quadriceps muscles
of one leg on subjects who had previously completed an intense bout of eccentric quadriceps
work with both legs. Immediate post-exercise isometric and dynamic quadriceps peak
torque measures had declined to approximately 60 - 70 % of pre-exercise values in
both legs. Peak torques for both the massage and control leg tended to slowly return
toward pre-exercise values through the subsequent four days (96 hrs). There was no
significant difference between the isometric and dynamic peak torques between massage
and control legs up to 96 hours post-exercise. Leg blood flow was estimated by determining
femoral artery and vein mean blood velocities via pulsed Doppler ultrasound velocimetry.
Massage of the quadriceps muscles did not significantly elevate arterial or venous
mean blood velocity above resting levels, while light quadriceps muscle contractions
did. The perceived level of delayed onset muscle soreness tended to be reduced in
the massaged leg 48 - 96 hours post-exercise. It was concluded that massage was not
an effective treatment modality for enhancing long term restoration of post-exercise
muscle strength and its use for this purpose in athletic settings should be questioned.
Key words
Massage - muscle strength - leg blood flow - muscle soreness