Using Massage Therapy to Recover From Surgery
Using Massage Therapy to Recover From Surgery
Christian Mackin, co-founder & CEO, Massage Robotics
Massage is invaluable in helping the body overcome trauma, and increasingly, it’s being prescribed as a crucial part of post-op surgical recovery regimens.
Key takeaways:
Every surgery is a trauma. Even successful surgeries trigger the body’s stress response.
Massage therapy is a restorative practice that stimulates the body’s natural ability to heal.
Targeted massage after surgery can reduce scar tissue, stress, anxiety, pain, and swelling.
New technologies can make post-surgical massage therapy more accessible to patients.
It’s easy to think of surgical procedures as healing practices—they’re often the means to healthier outcomes, after all. Yet, surgery is invasive. Even the simplest surgeries are stressful for the body. And, from the moment the final stitch is sewn in place, the body is forced to work overtime to recover.
Using massage therapy to recover from surgery is a great way to kickstart and support the body’s natural healing response. It’s an increasingly popular post-op treatment method thanks to its low cost and simplicity, along with several clinically proven benefits. Best of all? We’ve only scratched the surface of massage’s recuperative advantages for post-op patients.
Developments in massage technologies could pave the way to even more healing benefits from those reliant on massage therapy to recover from surgery.
Surgery is a form of trauma
Every surgery is, by nature, invasive. No matter how successful the procedure, the body still experiences trauma, and anesthesia makes recovery even more difficult. Couple this with the lack of mobility and proper nutrition that often precedes and/or follows surgery, and the body is put at a significant disadvantage when it comes to recuperating.
As the body works hard to repair any incisions and blood loss, post-op patients often feel tired and lethargic, along with some level of pain. While these symptoms are often managed with over-the-counter medications, the onus of overcoming trauma rests on the body’s natural healing mechanisms. The body is designed to heal itself, which means post-op patients need to focus on supporting this natural healing factor.
Massage is a healing practice
Massage stimulates the body’s natural capacity to heal. In fact, it’s essentially the antithesis to surgical trauma! It’s inherently non-invasive, providing a targeted touch that soothes and heals.
After surgery, it’s not uncommon for patients to experience pain, inflammation, scarring, and even a serious condition called lymphedema—damage to the lymphatic system that causes swelling and pain. Massage encourages healing, stimulating the lymphatic system to effectively break down scar tissue.
With blood flow and lymphatic drainage both activated, the body gets the boost it needs to begin repairing post-op wounds.
Massage has well-documented recovery benefits
Massage provides healing benefits that enhance and accelerate the recovery period after surgery. It improves the circulation of blood and lymphatic fluid, allowing oxygen to reach the body’s tissues and organs to reduce symptoms of swelling and stiffness.
Numerous peer-reviewed studies show that patients heal faster with the integration of massage therapy—and there are psychological benefits, too. As a compassionate, tender form of therapy, massage stimulates the mind and body to bring them together in a common goal: recovery.
According to research on using massage therapy to recover from surgery, the major benefits of post-operative massage include:
Reductions in scar tissue
Scars are the visual reminders of invasive surgery. But with the help of massage therapy, scars don’t need to be as severe. As the skin repairs itself following an incision, collagen fibers grow in all directions, causing visible and pronounced scar tissue. Studies show that massage can be an effective treatment to reduce scar tissue formation, while promoting tissue flexibility. Both sports massage and deep tissue massage have tested generally effective in treating scarring.
Renew strength and mobility
Scar tissue after surgery can limit mobility, especially if it hasn’t remodeled correctly. It can even lead to joint contractures that further make movement difficult. A 2020 systematic review and meta-analysis showed that myofascial massage alleviated pain and improved mobility among a sample of women after breast cancer surgery. Scar massage, “particularly myofascial massage, cross friction massage or transverse friction massage, can help remodel scars, ensuring collagen fibers are properly aligned.”
Reduces stress and anxiety
As mentioned, surgery is a form of trauma, and stress is the body’s natural response to trauma. Even after successful surgery, the experience can be stressful on both physical and emotional health. Massage therapy can help patients relieve stress and anxiety—and it’s associated symptoms like muscle tension—following surgery. In fact, one study showed significant relaxation and satisfaction compared to regular rest time in a sample of cardiac surgery patients following intensive procedures.
Minimizes pain and swelling
By relaxing painful muscles, stimulating nerves, impeding pain messages to the brain and so much more, massage effectively minimizes pain and swelling associated with surgery. A meta-analysis published in 2016 even stated that massage therapy is “more efficacious than several other treatments at alleviating pain in post-surgery patients.”
Massage Robotics robot, Alex
Massage as part of a holistic post-op regimen
More and more, massage therapy plays an integral role in post-surgery recovery for patients recovering from a variety of procedures, from mastectomies to surgically repaired limbs. It’s an effective healing treatment because it’s the most natural one: a stimulation of the body’s own healing factor.
As more healthcare professionals recommend massage to post-operative patients, there’s a growing reliance on massage equipment for healing recovery. This demand has already spurred the development of new technologies—among them, massage robotics. While massage robots to recover from surgery may seem unfamiliar today, they could become a significant resource for administering highly targeted post-op massage to patients in recovery.