It is clear that a good massage can relieve muscle pain or help the body recover after intense physical exercise. However, little is known about the physiological processes that produce these beneficial effects. A study published in Science Translational Medicine offers some clues: the answer lies in the genes.
Ignorance of the biological bases that underlie massages makes some doctors skeptical of its beneficial effects. Mark Tarnopolsky, the researcher responsible for this study, was one of them. However, after suffering an accident, he went to physiotherapy as part of his rehabilitation, and he recovered so effectively that he decided to seek the cellular explanation for his cure.
The scientists found that after a massage some genes related to inflammation are inactivated, and others are activated that help the muscle to recover. On the other hand, the study disproves the cliché that massage degrades lactic acid and other waste products generated in tired muscles.
The work was carried out by taking samples of the quadriceps tissue of several people who had just done physical exercise. Half of them received a massage upon completion, and the other half did not. After genetic analysis of the samples, the scientists found that the massaged legs had 30 percent more PGC-1alpha . This protein activates genes related to the formation of mitochondria, which are the organelles that provide energy to the cell. In addition, a lower proportion of the NFkB protein was found, which activates genes associated with muscle inflammation.
Although it is still necessary to delve into the subject, his work is a first step towards understanding the biological mechanisms that explain the therapeutic power of a good massage.
In fact there are many types of massages and in recent times they have become a true social fad. Along with this trend, websites specialized in this type of treatment have been born. This is the case of Monazen , where the specialists themselves offer their therapies, be it spa, massage, and other services with discounts so that they go from being a luxury of high society, to a healthy method of eliminating work stress.
