Immunological effects of massage after exercise: A systematic review

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this review was to determine whether immune parameters can be modulated by massage after intense physical activity.

Methods: A search was conducted in Pub Med Medline, PEDro, and Cochrane databases, using the key words: "massage", "myofascial release", "acupressure", "recovery", and "warm up" combined with "exercise", "exercise-induced muscle damage", "sport", "immunology", and lymphocytes" independently. Only controlled studies published between 1970 and 2012 were selected, with no restrictions regarding publication language. The CONSORT Declaration was applied to assess the quality of the selected studies.

Results: The initial search identified 739 publications in the databases, of which only 5 met the review inclusion criteria. A positive relationship between immunological recovery and post-exercise massage was reported by some of these studies but not by others.

Conclusion: There is preliminary evidence that massage may modulate immune parameters when applied after exercise, but more research is needed to confirm this possibility.

Keywords: Exercise; Immunoglobulin A; Immunology; Massage.