Massage

Research summary

• A classic 1998 systematic review first evaluated whether post-exercise massage reduces delayed-onset muscle soreness and found modest supportive evidence, a conclusion echoed by later systematic reviews and meta-analyses of physiotherapeutic interventions for exercise-induced muscle damage.
• A 2025 umbrella and meta-meta-analysis review comparing physical therapies for muscle soreness situates massage among several modestly effective options rather than a uniquely superior one.
• Across this literature, effect sizes for massage are generally small, trial quality is variable, and blinding participants to massage versus no massage is inherently difficult, which limits how much confidence can be placed in the size of the true effect even though the direction is fairly consistently positive.