Media Report
February 2, 2012WSU physical therapy professor quoted in LA Times on understanding the science of massage
http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-massage-20120202,0,343517.story
Everyone knows that it can feel really good to get a massage. Now scientists may have figured out why, by identifying how massage switches genes on and off, thus reducing inflammation and coaxing muscle adaptation to exercise. Thomas Birk, associate professor of physical therapy at Wayne State University, who has studied the physiological effects of massage in patients with HIV, said that a study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, was the first he had seen that drilled down to cellular basics. "We knew there was something going on, but we couldn't get to it a decade ago," he said, because the technology to probe the smallest structures of the body didn't yet exist. Birk said that more research would be needed for practitioners to figure out the right massage methods, pressures and depths to treat particular conditions.
Everyone knows that it can feel really good to get a massage. Now scientists may have figured out why, by identifying how massage switches genes on and off, thus reducing inflammation and coaxing muscle adaptation to exercise. Thomas Birk, associate professor of physical therapy at Wayne State University, who has studied the physiological effects of massage in patients with HIV, said that a study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, was the first he had seen that drilled down to cellular basics. "We knew there was something going on, but we couldn't get to it a decade ago," he said, because the technology to probe the smallest structures of the body didn't yet exist. Birk said that more research would be needed for practitioners to figure out the right massage methods, pressures and depths to treat particular conditions.
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