Effect of Massage on Muscles

The effect of massage on muscles

A person has more than 400 skeletal muscles, they make up from 30 to 40% of the total weight. In this case, the weight of the muscles of the limbs makes up 80% of the total muscle weight. Skeletal muscles cover the entire human body, and when we talk about the beauty of the human body, we primarily mean their harmonious development and arrangement. All skeletal muscles are divided into trunk muscles, head muscles and limb muscles. The muscles of the trunk, in turn, are divided into posterior (muscles of the back and neck) and anterior (muscles of the neck, chest and abdomen).

Muscles consist of muscle fibers, the main properties of which are excitability and contractility. Skeletal muscle can be classified as a special sensory organ that transmits signals to the central nervous system. On the way back, the nerve impulse, passing through the neuromuscular ending, promotes the formation of acetylcholine in it, which causes excitation of the muscle fiber.

We have already said that acetylcholine transmits nervous excitement from one cell to another, so increasing its formation during massage increases the overall performance of muscles. According to experimental studies, the performance of tired muscles after a massage can increase 5-7 times.

After intense physical activity, a ten-minute massage is enough to not only restore the original muscle performance, but also increase it. This reaction of muscle fibers to massage is also facilitated by irritation of special model nerve fibers contained in the muscle bundle.

Under the influence of massage, blood circulation and redox processes improve in the muscles: the rate of oxygen delivery and removal of metabolic products increases. As a result, the sensations of stiffness, pain and swelling of the muscles are eliminated.