Massage helps injured muscles heal faster and stronger

What took so long to find this out! 😄 Will we soon get an optimized massage therapy for fast healing of injuries?

Remember: More mice were sacrificed for this kind of progress!

"“This has promise for regenerating a wide variety of tissues including bone, tendon, hair, and skin, and can also be used in patients with diseases that prevent the use of drug-based interventions.”"

"... Scientists at the Wyss Institute and Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences applied precise, repeated forces to injured mouse leg muscles and found that they recovered stronger and faster than untreated muscles, likely because the compression squeezed inflammation-causing cells out of the muscle tissue. Using a custom-designed robotic system to deliver consistent and tunable compressive forces to mice’s leg muscles, researchers ... found that this mechanical loading (ML) rapidly clears immune cells called neutrophils out of severely injured muscle tissue. This process also removed inflammatory cytokines released by neutrophils from the muscles, enhancing the process of muscle fiber regeneration. ...
started exploring the effects of mechanotherapy on injured tissues in mice several years ago, and found that it doubled the rate of muscle regeneration and reduced tissue scarring over the course of two weeks. Excited by the idea that mechanical stimulation alone can foster regeneration and enhance muscle function, the team decided to probe more deeply into exactly how that process worked in the body, and to figure out what parameters would maximize healing. ..."

Massage helps injured muscles heal faster and stronger – Harvard Gazette Study confirms link between mechanotherapy and immunotherapy in muscle regeneration in mice

Immunofluorescence images show that when an injured muscle is treated with mechanotherapy (right), its muscle fiber type composition changes compared to untreated muscles (left). The composition of the treated muscle is more similar to that of healthy muscle, implying that treatment helps restore proper muscle function. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University