Massage Therapy for Combat Arts Workout Recovery
The physiological and psychological healing aspects of massage therapy can be profound. That is why throughout history, massage has been valued as a medicinal and therapeutic practice, with certain massage techniques discovered to be particularly effective for certain physical issues, mental problems, and chronic ailments. Historical records confirm massage as one of the earliest forms of physical therapy.
The art of massage has been in use for thousands of years. Massage is part of traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine, and an ancient Egyptian tomb painting from around 2,300 BCE is often said to show hand and foot massage.
Martial Arts and Massage are Complementary Systems
The 3,000 year old martial art Kalaripayattu is considered the oldest known warrior art tradition in the world. It is the root form of Shaolin Kung fu. Kalari massage training is still a required element in achieving Kalaripayattu mastery today. In Kalaripayattu tradition, ‘Marma points’ are certain vital connection points of the body, or junctures where two or more types of tissue meet such as ligaments, veins, joints, and muscles.
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In that tradition, these points are described as places ‘where the Prana (life force or chi) is present.’ Marma points are sometimes compared to the ‘trigger points’ of Western massage or the pressure points of shiatsu, and are said to be usable to heal or harm, although there is no scientific evidence that prana or marma points exist as described.
They are healing junctures for massage therapy, or trauma and death points for martial arts masters. They are the exact same points, however, learned and utilized by ancient martial artists and healers such as Grandmaster Wong Fei-hung, famous Cantonese martial artist, physician, and folk hero who was played by Jet Li in the film, Once Upon a Time in China.
Martial artists were typically also the local healers, trained in both healing arts and warrior arts to heal or harm, as occasion required. Other martial arts traditions, such as Danzan Ryu JuJitsu and Jen Jhi Dao Taiji Quan currently also incorporate massage as essential parts of their training.
Mind Body Connection
Martial arts and massage developed together for very clear reasons. Both require a thorough understanding of body physiology and how the body moves and uses energy. Many traditional martial arts and massage systems also teach the ideas of energy pathways and energy centers, such as chi, although these concepts come from tradition and have no demonstrated anatomical basis.
Both expert massage therapists and expert martial artists can locate the correct spot by ‘feel.’ The martial artist and massage therapist use this ability to apply necessary force to the correct spot, with intent to incapacitate or injure for the martial artist, intent to heal and relieve pain for the massage therapist.
These martial arts training styles were intensive, and at times caused bruising, cuts, and other injuries, even to the point of breaking bones, dislocating joints, and interfering with breathing. Intense muscular exertion took its toll on the body.
The skills of massage and bone setting, making of healing herbs and oils developed together with martial arts as a necessary yin to yang aspect.
Martial arts taught the warriors combat methods, along with recovery techniques, needed when training occasionally traumatized their bodies. The warriors were taught how to heal themselves and each other, since keeping their bodies in perfect form was the only way to survive rigorous and formidable training requirements.
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What is Massage Therapy?
Massage therapy is a type of treatment during which a trained massage therapist (licensed, where the law requires it) manipulates the soft tissues of the body, including skin, muscle, tendons, ligaments, and connective tissue, by pressing, stroking, rubbing, kneading, lightly concussing, and sometimes moving and stretching the limbs and body, particularly during Thai massage.
Massage approaches and techniques may range from light stroking and kneading, to deep pressure and gently concussive actions such as karate hand chops, to complete limb ROM extension, all depending upon the type of treatment needed and/or preferred for the physical or emotional issues present.
What Research Says About Massage
Research has clearly demonstrated the many benefits of massage therapy as an effective treatment for reducing stress, pain, muscle tension, and many more issues
. Massage is generally considered part of complementary and alternative medicine. However, increasingly massage is considered acceptable treatment for many physical and emotional conditions and situations, along with more standard treatments.
Research has clearly demonstrated the many benefits of massage therapy as an effective treatment for reducing stress, pain, muscle tension, and many more issues
. Massage is generally considered part of complementary and alternative medicine. However, increasingly massage is considered acceptable treatment for many physical and emotional conditions and situations, along with more standard treatments.
Mayo Clinic notes that massage may help some people cope with the pain and stress of conditions such as cancer, fibromyalgia, and digestive disorders, alongside standard medical care. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health says massage may help some types of pain in the short term and is generally safe, with cautions for people with blood clots, fractures, open wounds, or bleeding disorders.
Professional UFC Fighters Swear by Massages
Mirsad Bektic, UFC Featherweight Fighter uses massage first and foremost for recovery to complement his training, as well as to help with preventing injuries. It’s one of his favorite recovery methods because it gives his body and mind time to relax and it helps to make his muscles feel great. “I feel so relaxed and my muscles feel so refreshed. Sometimes my body gets hard as a rock, but after I go in for a massage my legs feel stronger, my shoulders are more mobile and my neck is a lot looser.”
”As a professional athlete, massage isn’t a luxury - it’s a necessity”
- Mirsad Bektic UFC Featherweight Fighter
Massage Researched for Over 120 Years
Massage therapy has been consistently researched for more than 120 years, with a great increase in studies performed during the last 20 years resulting in over 2,500 published research studies. Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles is one hospital that has been studying the benefits of massage for a variety of injuries and ailments.
The University of Miami, School of Medicine’s Touch Research Institute has performed over 70 studies on the medical effectiveness of touch, and particularly the effectiveness of touch within the realm of massage therapy techniques.
The institute’s studies suggest that massage affects more than muscles, including stress hormones and alertness. Its research has reported benefits for pain, headaches, and muscle tension, although many of these studies were small, and larger reviews find the evidence for most conditions is limited or short-term.
Massage has been studied for issues such as the following, with mixed and often limited results:
Massage and Muscle Inflammation
Science is only beginning to understand what massage does inside muscle. In a small study, 11 young men exercised to exhaustion, then had one leg massaged while the other leg went untreated for comparison.
Muscle samples from the massaged leg showed lower levels of signals linked to inflammation (cytokines) and more activity in pathways tied to mitochondrial biogenesis. The study did not measure whether massage shortened recovery time, and it was too small to draw firm conclusions.
According to Crane and colleagues, massage may dampen some of the same inflammatory signals that anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) target, but the study did not compare massage with those drugs directly.
Massage can be a helpful addition to recovery, but this research doesn’t support using it in place of medical treatment. Never stop prescribed medication without talking to your doctor.
“[This work] suggests that with vigorous exercise, there may be activation of muscle inflammatory pathways — we all know that if you really overdo it with a long run you will be aching next day — and massage may help that,” observes Briggs, who was not involved in the research. “It might be partly from the manipulation of the muscle fibers, and partly from stimulating circulation to the muscle” .
Massage Stimulates the Brain
"When you get a massage, you stimulate pressure receptors under the skin, which leads to an increase in vagal activity,” Briggs says, referring to the vagus, one of the 12 cranial nerves that emerge directly from the brain. Increased vagal activity is linked to positive changes such as a slower heart rate, lower stress hormones, and lower blood pressure, which may help explain why massage feels so relaxing.
Benefits of Combining Martial Arts & Message
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Massage and Injury Risk
There is no strong evidence that massage prevents injuries. It may help you feel looser and notice tight or sore areas sooner, which is useful information for adjusting training, but preventing injuries depends mostly on sensible training volume, good technique, strength work, and rest.
Intense training leads to tightness and tension in the muscles. Massage therapy can help release tension and relax tight, sore muscles, and many fighters find it helps them move more freely.
Massage for Back Pain
Research suggests massage may help some people with low back pain in the short term, but it has not been shown to work better than pain medications.
Massage carries no risk of painkiller addiction and won’t leave you foggy for training. Some research suggests that certain pain medications, such as NSAIDs, may interfere with the healing of some tissues, so ask your doctor about the best pain plan for an injury. Never stop prescribed medication on your own.
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Types of Massage
There are many types of massage that will prove excellent for the martial artist, depending on what exactly is needed from the massage, The martial artist who is simply stressed out from job or home obligations, emotional issues, or driving too much, for instance, may benefit from a different massage therapy approach than the person who is recovering from a recent injury, has chronic buildup of scar tissue, or excessive knotting of muscles that are pulling alignment out of whack.
Many martial arts practitioners will require deep tissue work to release tight muscles and trigger points that are causing pain. This is especially true if training very hard, have a newly up leveled training schedule, or sparring intensively in class, or a competition. A post workout massage is an excellent way to alleviate the trauma the body experienced.
New to Massage?
Martial artists who have never or rarely visited a massage therapist need to understand that even though they may not notice or feel immediate pain or have chronic issues, their bodies are also acclimated to a certain level of pain management, simply from training hard. When they first see a massage therapist, particularly for deep tissue work, it may start releasing long held—even lifelong held—body tension that will suddenly be made ‘visible.’
The psoas is one place, for instance, where many athletes carry tightness they may not notice until it is worked on. The psoas (pronounced “so – az”) is a deep hip flexor that connects the lower spine to the top of the thigh bone. It runs from the lumbar vertebrae, through the pelvis, to the upper thigh, and if you’ve ever felt deep tightness in the front of the hip after working out, the psoas may be involved.
This is a primary place for holding tension in the body, especially for athletes. The psoas is the core muscle of the body, primarily flexing the hip and the spinal column, and allowing fluid movements when walking, running, and kicking. Martial arts training and fighting exercises can create deeply held tension in this area. Once a massage therapist begins releasing these deeply held tensions, discomfort may be felt, and enter into the consciousness of the practitioner.
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Allow for Downtime
It is best to begin massage therapy treatment sessions when there will be time off from regular duties and training, even a few hours, just in case some temporary recovery time is desired. This is especially true if getting shiatsu, trigger point, deep tissue, myotherapy or myofascial massage therapy, and most of the massage techniques including in the bottom section of this article entitled, “Eight Deep Massage Treatments for Martial Artists.”
Do Not Get Massage Treatments Too Close To Events
Mirsad Betic gets massage therapy treatments regularly, and absolutely swears by them, He does not get them too close to training times, events, or fights, however, since as mentioned above, occasionally treatments can access areas of deeply held tension, or create a tendency towards extreme relaxation, that will not be conducive to top fitness fight action and extreme muscle responsiveness.
One of the best massage treatments to get for basic tune up, staying loose and relaxed is Swedish massage. This massage type can be utilized a day or two before an event. Try Thai massage if increasing ROM sounds like an especially useful aspect of massage for your body. However, as mentioned above, Thai massage is included in the list of deep massage techniques, which are best utilized when downtime is available, and not too close to an event or fight.
Deep Tissue Massage For Pain and Tightness
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Deep tissue massage, shiatsu, trigger point, myofascial and other types of deep tissue massage can feel great for general pain relief, a neck strained from a clinch, hip tightness, shoulder strain, a sore back from being stacked, chronic knots and pain from overuse, and basic all over muscle tension when it feels like every muscle in your body is tighter than a string. Massage does not repair damaged joints or tissue, though, so get sharp pain, numbness, sciatica-type symptoms, or a knee injury checked by a doctor or physical therapist first.
Get Regular Tune-Ups
You tune up your car, oil the bicycle, recalibrate machinery, and the human body is no different in its need for regular care and maintenance. And just like that car was driven 1,000 miles a week, your body will keep going, for a while. Then parts start to break down from overuse and no care. Regular massage therapy sessions can help you stay aware of tight and sore areas before small problems become bigger ones, but massage alone won’t stop scar tissue from forming or pain from becoming chronic.
Massage keeps alignment strong and prevents knots from pulling muscles out of place. Pain and tension can be removed with just a few treatments to release trigger points and allow the body relief from stress. That frees the martial artist to continue momentum and training intensity. Training hard feels good. Training hard without pain or stressed joints feels great.
"Massage is so intricately connected with martial arts that Mike ‘The Hulk’ Easton said if he wasn’t fighting—he’d be a massage therapist"! Mike Easton - UFC Bantam weight MMA fighter
Sports Massage Specialist or Not
All forms of massage therapy will support the body, release problem areas, help the martial artist to train and fight better, stronger, longer, and with more intensity. However, there are massage therapists who specialize in keeping martial artists and fighters’ perfected body machinery in top condition. They know the difference between the occasional jogger, aerobics or weightlifters’ body, and the perfected, hardliner, trained-to-the-teeth martial artist and professional fighter’s body.
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They already know why your neck is tweaked, and back twisted, although they may like hearing the story! They’ve received specialized training in handling the often times battered, strained, and bandaged MMA, UFC, and BJJ fighter.
This is one element to consider when choosing the type of massage therapist who will be perfect for your needs.
Any massage therapy is better than none, and most massage therapists will prove excellent much of the time, but a specialized sports massage therapist may be necessary at least part of the time. Mirsad Bektic goes to a massage therapist specializing in sports massage .
Massage Helps
All massage will ultimately relax the body and provide stress relief. Certain techniques, however, are not soothing during the sessions, but only afterward does the client feel more relaxed. These are more specialized techniques found in the next section and are perfect for over-trained muscles and deep trigger point release. For those times when simple, easy and soothing touch is what’s needed, try one of these six techniques listed below.
When craving a soothing and relaxing massage that lets the mind float off into ‘love it!’ land, one of these smooth, mellow massage styles listed will happily turn your body and mind into mush. Particularly Swedish massage, which is the most common type of massage therapy, is designed to relax, uplift, increase circulation, and make the body feel good. It is considered the “classic massage.” Always feel free to request stronger or lighter pressure, harder or less hard movements from your therapist during sessions.
Six Massage Techniques For Relaxation and Stress Relief
Swedish Massage
Swedish massage is perhaps the most popular type of massage therapy. Swedish is a gentle, relaxation-focused form of massage that is ideal for easing superficial tension, relaxing the body, increasing circulation, and calming the mind. Swedish massage makes you feel cared for and good.
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Therapists use strong or soft stroking and kneading of the muscles, long, gliding strokes, deep circular movements, tapping, friction, and vibration/shaking. Oil is applied to minimize friction and enhance circulation to stressed muscles.
Swedish massage speeds the process of restoring the body to its peak performance. Try it especially if you're new to massage or you're looking to relieve light to moderate tension in your neck, back, and shoulders with a classic chair massage, or all over your body, with a full massage session.
Hot Stone Massage
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Is a form of Swedish massage but uses hot stones during the massage to improve blood flow, release knots, and facilitate relaxation. One word of warning, these stones can be fairly hot. During the hot stone massage, your body is weighted down with hot, smooth stones placed carefully on particular points. The massage therapist uses heated basalt stones on the back to help melt and ease tighter areas and uses the hot stones to massage your body along with their hands to work out stubborn knots with regular hands-on techniques.
The hot rocks feel like incredibly smooth satin and can feel quite hot, warming muscle knots and trigger points and leaving sore muscles relaxed and pliable. Heat should feel comfortable, never painful: stones that are too hot can burn the skin, so speak up right away if one feels too hot. People with diabetes, reduced sensation, circulation problems, or heart conditions, and anyone who is pregnant, should check with a doctor first. A hot stone massage is quite invigorating, too, since the deep heat keeps the client focused on the moment rather than drifting off. The combination of heat, rubbing, and interesting sensations really helps relieve tension and is worth trying especially if you suffer from chronic knots and tight spots, and enjoy therapeutic heat.
Lymphatic Massage
Lymphatic massage, or manual lymphatic drainage, is a gentle touch technique designed to encourage the flow of lymph fluid. It was developed by two Danish practitioners, Emil and Estrid Vodder, and is popular in Europe. Claims that it detoxifies the body aren’t supported: your liver and kidneys handle detoxification, and there’s no compelling evidence that detox treatments remove toxins.
Its best evidence is for lymphedema, a buildup of lymph fluid that can follow surgery or cancer treatment, where it is used as part of medical care. Get your doctor’s okay first if swelling comes from a new injury, surgery, infection, or a possible blood clot.
Lymphatic massage uses easy, gentle, light, repetitive strokes to help muscle cells contract the walls of lymph vessels, which presses lymphatic fluid through the vessels, lymph nodes, and the rest of the body. Lymphatic massage is one of the lightest techniques.
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Reiki
Reiki is a form of hands-on or hands-near energy therapy developed in 1922 by Japanese Buddhist Mikao Usui. Reiki is a form of alternative medicine, not massage in the traditional sense. Practitioners believe it helps the body heal and restores balance in mind and body, but there’s no good evidence that Reiki helps any health condition. Some people simply find the sessions relaxing.
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Reiki is noninvasive and easy to learn. It is a form of energy work where the practitioner places their hands, on or just above the body, in a series of holding positions said to relate to the vital organs and nerve plexus. The word Reiki comes from the Japanese word (Rei) which means “Universal Life,” and (Ki) which means “Energy.”
Traditional Japanese Reiki relies on intuitive hand movements, whereas Western Reiki has systemized hand placements. People use it for relaxation and a sense of ‘centering,’ but it shouldn’t replace medical or psychological care for pain or trauma.
Chair Massage
If you’ve ever watched someone getting a chair massage in a market or other public place, you almost relax just watching them. Chair massage can be a wonderful introduction to massage for the sore martial arts massage newbie. Often people who have never experienced a massage will feel nervous, even uncomfortable, at the idea of being touched by a stranger, and doubly so if it’s in a public place.
A chair massage is a perfect place to start for newbies. It’s easy to sit in a chair that completely supports the body and head, while safely experiencing a neck, shoulders, and/or back massage—with clothes on.
Downside is it can be a little distracting since it’s usually done in public places. And it’s not a full body massage, so it’s not as powerful as a regular session.
Upside is they are very convenient, jump into the chair while shopping, don’t take long, and depending on the massage therapist a chair massage can deeply penetrate tense areas, releasing pain and knots in the upper body. A surprising bonus is that getting a chair massage increases general alertness.
Research has shown that adults were more alert after receiving a15-minute chair massage, plus they performed better on a series of math questions .
Foot Massage
Foot massages are a simple, easy approach to relieving tension that relaxes the entire body. Traditional Chinese medicine teaches that the feet have acupuncture, meridian and chi points relating to every part of the body. A foot massage will use acupressure on certain points in the feet that help relieve pain and stress. That is why a foot massage from a trained professional can literally melt away the pain, tension, and stress.
It is particularly powerful for martial artists who often are constantly on their feet because of training and sparring, and also for runners, dancers, and anyone who works standing on their feet all day.
Treating Pain and Specific Conditions
Traditional massages are great when just a little stress relief and relaxation are in order. Martial artists with knotted muscles, deep soreness, exhaustion, sprains or strains, new or old injuries, specific tight points of tension, kinks or pain in the spine, clicks or catches in the neck or jaw may require more extreme, powerful, deeply intense techniques designed to give greater support to the body.
Eight Deep Massage Treatments For Martial Artists
Sports Massage
Sports massage is designed for very physically active athletes whose bodies get put through massive training, whether professional level or not. It combines Swedish, shiatsu, deep tissue, along with other massage and energy techniques. These combined techniques are then applied overall, and to areas most impacted by the type of training performed. Sports massage addresses pain and soreness caused by repetitive motions involved in specific sports.
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Athletes report benefits including looser muscles, better ROM, less soreness, and relaxation of overtrained and tight muscles, along with psychological effects such as reduced anxiety. Research mainly supports reduced feelings of soreness and fatigue rather than faster tissue repair.
Martial artists and other athletes also get sports massages to feel ready for peak performance and as part of injury rehab, ideally coordinated with a doctor or physical therapist. There is no strong evidence that massage prevents injuries.
Always tell your therapist areas needing more work, any health issues, and how the pressure feels.
Myofascial Release
The “fascia” is a thin layer of tissue that covers muscles. It can become too tight and get stuck, not allowing muscles complete relaxation, and occasionally interfering with ROM. Or years of bad alignment, car accidents or biking accidents, overtraining and thrown wrong too many times, or intense neck holds create a layer on layer of knotted muscles tight to the point of feeling like a wall. That is an injury setup waiting to happen.
Myofascial release has been used since before the 1940s, and involves a list of techniques that release muscle tension, including use of knuckles or forearm on body; sinking fingers or hand deep into soft tissue; contacting the first barrier and putting in a line of tension; removing slack in tissue; dragging fascia; and more.
One drawback to myofascial release is it can be quite painful. This isn’t always the case, but it is often described that way, depending upon how much deeply held tension has been stored in the body for years, and if neck, shoulder, lower back, psoas, or hip tissue (typical areas) have knotted, frozen, and tightened up. If so, myofascial release techniques will peel back the layers of knots and unstick frozen areas, joints, and muscles.
Once frozen areas loosen up, they can be kept open and loose. It is a powerful massage technique that really works.
Deep Tissue and Trigger Point Massage
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Deep tissue and trigger point massage styles overlap, but deep tissue massage addresses the entire body, while usually trigger point massage focuses in on large knots and other trigger points on the body. Both deep tissue and trigger point therapy massage utilize slow friction and deep, intense finger pressure on knotted and tight areas of the body that hold chronic muscle tension, aches, or pain. Both are excellent for the martial artist.
Deep Tissue Massage
Deep tissue massage, first of all, feels amazing for most martial artists. Often when an athlete has a lot of powerful muscle, lighter massage techniques simply cannot do justice, go deeply enough, or affect trouble areas intensely enough to release pain and create relaxation.
Deep tissue massage uses stronger, deeper, more intense kneading, pummeling, and focused pressure techniques to target the deeper layers of muscle and connective tissue than does Swedish, and is able to achieve incredible results and relieve monster tension that stays stuck with softer techniques.
Deep tissue massage applies extreme pressure onto specific painful, knotted, tight points. It can feel a little torturous at first since they are pushing right into your most painful areas and points. The massage can leave you feeling sore, drained, and tired afterward, as well, due to the cathartic release of physical, mental, and even emotional tension.
In deep tissue massage, the therapist may use knuckles and elbows to remove resistance in the knots, tight spots, and muscle tissue as far down to the bone as possible. It’s not for everyone. It can be pure heaven for the heavily muscled martial artist, however, since even as the therapist works, painful tension points release.
Those that participate in combat sports often find deep tissue massage helps their bodies feel better after events. The therapist works into tight, painful areas, which can ease pain and tension. Athletes are much harder on their bodies than the average person, layering on more muscle as a result, and many respond well to this firmer work. Avoid deep pressure directly over fresh injuries, bruises, or swelling.
Deep tissue massage also helps people who are undergoing physical therapy since it aids in breaking down scar tissue. Deep tissue massage is ideal for releasing chronic tension and improving ROM. The intense pressure causes problem areas to soften and release, allowing greater pliability, along with a release from pain and tension. It can be used in combination with other massage styles to balance the experience and is typically utilized in sports massage.
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Trigger Point Massage
Trigger point massage can hurt, but many martial artists find it helps. It is especially popular with martial artists who have new or old injury problems and regularly get painful knots. Trigger point massage can ease pain in specific tight spots, although research on trigger point therapy is limited.
Deep tissue massage is best for large body areas or all over body pain, tightness, or tension, while trigger point massage works best for exactly what it says: pain that radiates from a specific spot or spots, such as sciatica, rotator cuff issues, plantar fasciitis, stiff joints, painful elbow, or that spot right between the shoulder blades.
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A trigger point is a painfully tight spot or area within muscle tissue that, sooner or later, causes pain in other parts of the body. A trigger point in the back, for example, may create pain in the chest or when inhaling. Or it may send pain up to the neck or shoulders. The neck or shoulders now develop their own satellite trigger point, sending tension points up into the skull, causing jaw tightness, earaches, clicking, or headaches. Trigger point pain may be sharp and intense enough to take the breath away, or a dull, quiet aching like a tight shoe.
Tight muscle fiber clusters can form when under too much stress for too long, overtraining, after fights or intense sparring sessions, or from new or old injuries. Trigger point massage applies extreme pressure right on tight muscle clusters that are creating the trigger point. This causes a release action in the muscle, providing relief from tightness, inflammation, and pain. One treatment can cause a significant decrease in pain. Regular trigger point therapy sessions can control pain and stress from chronic injuries.
Shiatsu Massage
Shiatsu is another ancient Japanese style of massage rooted in Chinese medicine. It is a healing art that uses gentle stretches with intense finger pressure or acupressure to work on different pressure points, affecting energy flow throughout the body.
In traditional theory, the purpose of shiatsu is to fix imbalances and clear blockages in the flow of the body’s energy, or Qi. These energy concepts have no demonstrated anatomical basis, but many people find shiatsu relaxing.
Shiatsu therapists will also use other techniques besides hands, depending on what is needed to give the client relief, including elbows, knees, and even their feet, as they work out tension from the back, joints, and limbs Shiatsu calms an overactive sympathetic nervous system. The client stays clothed during the treatment which makes it very quick and convenient. Shiatsu is excellent for the martial artist because it adjusts energy and massages deeply to give powerful results for chronically tight muscles or joints, large knots at juncture points, or deep muscle tightness such as in the psoas.
It is a deeply effective type of massage for the martial artist who’s feeling a chronic tightness between the shoulder blades, in the rotator cuff, occasional pain in the elbow, large painful knots in the neck and/or shoulder areas.
Research on shiatsu is limited. Small studies suggest it may help with headaches, back pain, low energy, sleep, and nausea, and there is limited evidence for improvement of chronic respiratory conditions, especially COPD.
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Thai Massage
Thai massage was originated in Thailand by Shivago Komarpaj approximately 2,500 years ago and has been influenced by the traditional medicine systems of China, India, and Southeast Asia, creating a very complex and multilayered massage system that incorporates both massage and deep, invigorating stretches of the body and limbs performed by the therapist. That is why Thai massage is sometimes called “yoga massage.”
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The client stays clothed and lays on a mat while the practitioner moves their body through a series of yoga-type movements, intense stretches, and rigorous manipulations. Thai massage therapists use their entire body to move and manipulate your body. They use hands, elbows, knees, legs, and feet to stretch the entire body in every way, massaging while putting pressure on muscles and loosening joints.
Thai massage includes walking on the client if needed, and it works the entire body. This is not the correct massage technique for those wanting deep relaxation and gentle, easy touch. It’s extremely energizing, however, and gives amazing results to martial artists wanting to achieve deeper stretches, and dealing with chronic stiffness, chronic or temporary tightness of muscles or joints.
Thai massage improves energy, increases flexibility, overall health, and well-being gives a greater range of motion and temporary relief from pain.
Reflexology
Reflexology is typically a foot-based therapy, although it can also be performed on the hands and ears. It is a form of foot massage that practitioners believe affects the entire body through points on the feet. Many people find it relaxing.
Practitioners apply pressure to specific points on the feet that reflexology maps link to certain organs and body systems. Similar maps are drawn on the ears and hands, but there is no scientific evidence that these points connect to organs.
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Reflexology therapy links these pressure points to the body’s various internal systems and affects positive change using finger pressure to the feet, hands, or ears.
Reflexology has been used in the U.S. since 1913, when Dr. William H. Fitzgerald introduced a forerunner called zone therapy. Research studies have looked at the effects of reflexology and foot massage on the body, but none has shown that the meridians of traditional Chinese medicine exist, and meridians have no demonstrated anatomical basis.
Research studies have looked at reflexology for pain, multiple sclerosis symptoms, anxiety, postoperative symptoms, headaches, blood pressure, and more. Some small studies report benefits, mainly for relaxation and symptom relief, but the evidence is limited, and reflexology should not replace medical treatment for any condition.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Massage Help Muscle Recovery After Martial Arts Training?
Massage can reduce how sore and tight you feel after hard training, and many fighters find it helps them relax and move more freely. Research shows its clearest benefit is on the perception of soreness and fatigue, not on actually speeding up tissue repair or boosting strength. Think of it as a useful add-on to sleep, nutrition and smart training loads, not a replacement for them.
Can Massage Prevent Injuries in Combat Sports?
There is no strong evidence that massage prevents injuries. It may help you feel looser and notice tight or sore areas sooner, which can be useful information for adjusting training. Injury risk is better managed with sensible training volume, proper technique, strength and conditioning work, adequate rest, and getting persistent pain checked by a doctor or physical therapist.
What Type of Massage Is Best for Martial Artists?
It depends on your goal. Swedish massage uses lighter, flowing strokes and suits general relaxation, while deep tissue and sports massage use firmer pressure on heavily worked areas like hips, shoulders and neck. Thai massage adds assisted stretching. Tell your therapist where you train hardest, any injuries or health conditions, and speak up if the pressure is too much.
Should I Get a Deep Tissue Massage Before a Fight or Competition?
It is usually best to avoid deep or intense massage in the day or two before a fight, because it can leave you sore or feeling heavy and flat. A lighter, relaxing massage is a safer choice close to competition. Schedule deeper sessions when you have some downtime afterward, and try new techniques in the off-season rather than fight week.
Is Massage Safe After a Martial Arts Injury?
Massage is generally safe for most healthy athletes when done by a trained, licensed therapist. Avoid massage directly over fresh injuries, open wounds, burns, suspected fractures, or areas of acute swelling, and check with a doctor first if you have a blood clotting disorder, take blood thinners, or have a serious injury. Mild soreness afterward is common, but sharp or worsening pain is not.
