Massage Has the Potential to Accelerate Recovery and Decrease Muscle Soreness after Physical Exercise (Literature Review)

Abstract

Physical exercise can cause fatigue, resulting in a decrease in muscle work efficiency. This study aimed to analyze the potential of massage to accelerate recovery through a literature review. This type of research is a literature review. Article searches were carried out using a comprehensive strategy in research journal databases such as Web of Science (WOS), Scopus, and Pubmed. The keywords used are massage, physical exercise, muscle pain, inflammatory response, and recovery. The inclusion criteria are journals that discuss sports massage, physical exercise, muscle pain, inflammatory response, and recovery after exercise. Furthermore, the exclusion criteria are journals published in the last 6 years from 2022. 30 articles were obtained, and 12 articles were analyzed based on the suitability of the topic, objectives, research protocol, and research results. Exercises performed at high intensity, especially with repetitive eccentric movements, will cause muscle damage, inflammation, and muscle pain. This review reports that physical intensity exercise that triggers muscle soreness has many advantages when massaged. This benefit is so beneficial in sports that the potential for the use of regular NSAIDs is reduced. In addition, massage has the potential to accelerate recovery, reduce pain intensity, and increase ROM and muscle strength after physical exercise. Therefore, we recommend that massage be used as an alternative to speed up recovery and reduce pain intensity after exercise.