The Nuance
The Science-Backed Benefits of Massage
Research uncovers how the right touch fights pain and boosts your immune system
Think back to the last time you banged your head on a cupboard or knocked your knee on a table. The first thing you probably did, apart from cursing, was knead the offended body part with your fingers. You didn’t think about it; you just did it.
Researchers have an explanation for your instinct to massage away pain. “It’s called the gate theory,” says Tiffany Field, director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami.
Field says that pressure receptors under the skin transmit information to the brain more quickly than pain receptors. If both pain and pressure receptors are transmitting at the same time, the signals from the pressure receptors tend to override and partly mask the pain signals. Massage is one way to activate these pressure receptors, and therefore “close the gate” that allows pain signals to reach the brain, she says.
The gate control theory is just one explanation for some of the pain-reducing benefits research has linked to massage therapy. For example, a 2017 study in the journal Pain Medicine found 10 massage sessions spread out during 12 weeks led to “clinically significant” drops in pain…
