According to recent research published in The Journal of Physiology, massage treatments have been shown to increase muscle growth after serious injury.
“We foresee that massage could be used in situations where other treatments, such as exercise, can't be applied: in the intensive care unit and in patients who are under non-weight-bearing orders after orthopedic surgeries,” said Esther E. Dupont-Versteegden, one of the lead investigators of the report.
Researchers from the University of Kentucky and Colorado State University used rats that had decreased muscle mass and exposed them to a massaging device. After every other day of treatment, researchers would measure the size of muscle fibers, the manufacture of proteins and presence of other cells. The study indicated that massages aided in muscle regrowth and could be used to aid in damaged limbs.
