PHYSICAL THERAPY

OR BODY? MIND RESEARCH INTO SPORTS MASSAGE

By Dr Stuart Galloway PhD and Dr Angus Hunter PhD

A recent report, written in conjunction with Joan Watt (1), examined historical data from athletics team physiotherapy records to evaluate the proportion of their time involved in massage therapy. This report assessed the amount of non-specific massage used in preparation for, or recov- ery from, competition. It revealed that about 45% of a physiotherapist’s time at major events involves provision of mas- sage. Given the large demand for massage at major events there is now acceptance that sports massage therapists are an essential part of the athlete’s support team. This was highlighted by a recent article in sportEX dynamics issue three by Sian Cooper. In her article she clearly demonstrated the important role that mas- sage now plays at major events and that the demand for massage therapists is high and possibly expanding. Clearly there is a wide belief by athletes that massage is beneficial.

Given that athletes and sports massage therapists believe that massage has an

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The research evidence to demonstrate the benefits or otherwise of sports massage is scarce. In this article the authors talk about their recent work in trying to inves- tigate the physiological effects of sports massage.

important role to play in the preparation and recovery process it is surprising that the scientific literature has yet to demon- strate clear physiological or psychological benefits.

STUDY DESIGN ISSUES From closely examining the available liter- ature it becomes apparent that the lack of positive findings may be related to many study design issues, for instance: inconsis- tent massage duration (5-30 minutes); lack of standardisation of warm-up prior to assessment of massage intervention; absence of a period of active recovery when comparing massage with other inter- ventions; lack of control of prior dietary intake; and often lack of standardisation of physical activity/work done preceeding the massage intervention. All of these factors may impact upon the sensitivity of detect- ing an effect of massage on muscle perfor- mance and/or recovery. However, it is worth noting that in at least one case the

literature does support psychological bene- fits from massage (2). On the other hand physiological and performance benefits have never been consistently observed (2,3) with mechanisms examined including alter- ations in limb blood flow, cutaneous blood flow, muscular power, and fatigue charac- teristics of the muscle following massage. In fact, Hinds et al (4) observed an increase in cutaneous blood flow following massage and suggested that this may divert blood flow away from the recovering muscle.

LOWER LIMB MASSAGE Given the lack of well-controlled studies examining the physiological effects of massage we decided to undertake some systematic investigative work in this area. The aim of the studies was to undertake well-controlled and standardised laboratory based experimental trials in an attempt to elucidate any potential physiological effects. One of our initial studies (5) exam- ined the role of lower limb massage in

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