Does massage boost your immune system?

Sports massage is often viewed as a tool to iron out areas of tight muscle tissue that may be causing some movement dysfunction or general aches and pains, but more generally, a thorough massage treatment provided by an experienced therapist can also have a significant benefit to your body’s immune health as well. 

My own opinion on this benefit is that anything that leaves you feeling good and more relaxed is obviously good for your mood, and this is also associated with some biochemical changes within the body which are then able to facilitate an improvement in your immune health. 

In a study for the BBC earlier this year, the programme makers were able to show that in an HIV study, massage therapy significantly increased the lymphocyte t-cell count in the patients blood, the lymphocyte t-cell is part of our immune system. The same BBC study also noted that on average a 20% improvement in Lymphocyte t-cell count was also noted in otherwise healthy patients without a compromised immune system. 

Massage therapy as a type of treatment is beneficial in relieving aches and pains and muscle recovery, especially when combined with corrective and therapeutic exercise, but it can also help indirectly in how your body fights and reduces the likelihood of infection! 

 

You can watch a 3 minute clip on BBC iPlayer here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p096r0t1