Abstract
One of the therapeutic uses of massage is to facilitate repairof damaged tissue. A potential hazard of massage is that direct pressure onmuscle is known to damage skeletal myofibres. This study examines theeffect of a new form of massage using compressed air on the morphology ofuntraumatised rabbit skeletal myofibres. Under anaesthetic, the left and right vastus lateralis muscles of 16 New Zealand, white rabbits were treated with 10 minutes of compressed air therapy at 1 Bar using a single hole (5 mm) applicator head and control biopsies were taken from the opposite limb. Biopsies were prepared for light microscopy and transmission electronmicroscopy. Morphometry, using image analysis revealed a significant increase in myofibre diameters 10 minutes (p < 0.001) and 24 hours (p<0.01) after compressed air massage. Six days after treatment diameters were significantly reduced (p < 0.01). Morphologically, myofibres in control specimens were normal. Shortly after compressed air massage, juxta-nuclear and intermyofibrillar oedema was present and electron-lucent spaces were filled with swollen mitochondria and elements of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). Glycogen and other non-contractile organelles were sometimes aggregated in oedematous, sub-sarcolemmal regions. Twenty four hours after treatment, intermyofibrillar oedema was reduced, but SR swelling remained and many fibres were characterised by focal and large areas of myofibrillar disorganisation. With the exception of occasional swollen elements of the SR and a single internalised nucleus, myofibres morphology had returned to normal 6 days after treatment. Compressed air massage causes less damage to skeletal myofibres than a similar form of localised pressure treatment, deep transverse frictions. Clinicalstudies using this new modality are warranted.
Highlights
Massage is perhaps the oldest of the healing crafts, with surviving documents from China and India mentioning “rubbing” as a form of therapy up to 5000 years ago
Massage has proved beneficial in the management of chronic pain associated with fibromyalgia (Sunshine et al 1996), rheumatoid arthritis, (Field et al 1997a) acute pain experienced during childbirth (Waza et al 1993) and after the debridement of burns (Field 1998)
This study shows that compressed air therapy causes a cascade of morphometric and morphological changes in myofibres
Summary
Massage is perhaps the oldest of the healing crafts, with surviving documents from China and India mentioning “rubbing” as a form of therapy up to 5000 years ago. Massage is reported to impart a broad spectrum of benefits on a wide range of muscular-skeletal injuries and medical and psychological conditions (Field 1998, Goats 1994). It is widely used to improve and hasten healing of soft-tissue injuries (Smith et al 1994), to improve lymph drainage in lymphoedema (Casley-Smith et al 1998, Fiaschi et al 1998, Kurz et al 1981) and generally improve blood circulation in oedematous limbs (Goats 1994). It is reported to prevent adherent scar formation after surgery (Norris 1993) and it has been used to reduce the symptoms of such conditions as asthma, (Field et al 1998) diabetes (Field et al 1997b) and enhance the immune systems' cytotoxic capacity (Diego et al 2001, Ironson et al1996). Massage has been used to reduce stress (Cady and Jones 1997)
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