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. 2021 Apr 1;49(2):107-114.
doi: 10.1249/JES.0000000000000244.

Massage as a Mechanotherapy for Skeletal Muscle

Douglas W Van Pelt  1 , Marcus M Lawrence  2 , Benjamin F Miller  2 , Timothy A Butterfield  3 , Esther E Dupont-Versteegden  1
Affiliations

Massage as a Mechanotherapy for Skeletal Muscle

Douglas W Van Pelt et al. Exerc Sport Sci Rev. .

Abstract

Massage is anecdotally associated with many health benefits, but physiological and clinically relevant mechanisms recently have begun to be investigated in a controlled manner. Herein, we describe research supporting our hypothesis that massage can be used as a mechanotherapy imparting biologically relevant adaptations in skeletal muscle and improving muscle properties.

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Figures

Figure.
Figure.
Massage as a mechanotherapy for muscle: physiological responses of muscle to massage in the form of cyclic compressive loading (CCL). Massage applied to muscle through CCL in a controlled manner affects physiological processes such as immunoregulation, satellite cell proliferation, and extracellular matrix (ECM) turnover, and leads to intracellular responses in the form of protein and ribosome turnover as well as integrin-related signaling. Crossover effects also occur through yet to be identified mechanisms.
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