RSM-SPM-S008
Written by Hironori Ikeda, MSc Sports Medicine
RSM International Academy · Chiang Mai, Thailand
Course clinical guide → Soreness 24–48 Hours After Training: DOMS & Load Management
A cellular signal cannot be felt under the therapist’s hand. When explaining massage after exercise, separate the laboratory finding from the athlete’s soreness and ability to perform the next task. Those outcomes need different evidence.
In This Article
- In This Article
- 1. Read the Biopsy Study’s Population and Outcome
- 2. Use Clinical Recovery Outcomes for Clinical Promises
- Keep the Session Explanation Honest
- 3. Recheck the Athlete’s Actual Demand
- Related RSM Clinical Blogs
- Study Sports Massage at RSM
1. Read the Biopsy Study’s Population and Outcome
Crane and colleagues studied eleven young men after exercise-induced muscle damage and compared treated and untreated quadriceps. Biopsies showed changes in selected signalling pathways. That does not demonstrate faster repair in an injured athlete or a general treatment for inflammatory disease. The comparison was massage versus no treatment, not a comparison of pressure doses. It cannot justify increasing depth, lengthening a session or repeating treatment more often to obtain a larger anti-inflammatory effect.
The study did not show a change in glycogen or lactate. Avoid turning it into an explanation that massage flushes waste from a muscle.
2. Use Clinical Recovery Outcomes for Clinical Promises
Sports-massage evidence addresses soreness, flexibility and performance outcomes more directly. It does not support promising that reduced soreness means restored sprinting, strength or endurance.
Keep the Session Explanation Honest
An appropriate aim may be a tolerable contact and more comfortable movement. Do not tell an athlete that a softer-feeling quadriceps proves inflammatory cytokines have fallen or that the tissue has healed.
3. Recheck the Athlete’s Actual Demand
Choose a familiar low-demand movement that is appropriate to the health context, such as a comfortable unweighted squat at the same depth. Record symptoms and movement separately, then review the subsequent training response.
Persistent focal pain, worsening function or signs inconsistent with ordinary post-exercise soreness call for further assessment. A laboratory mechanism does not override that decision.
Related RSM Clinical Blogs
▷ Soreness 24–48 Hours After Training: DOMS & Load Management — Sports Massage · Explore the full symptom assessment and treatment decisions.
▷ Pain After Training: Injury or Normal Load Response? — Sports Medicine Massage · Compare a related clinical question from another assessment angle.
▷ Sore After Hard Training: Recovery, Sleep & Load — Sports Medicine Massage · Connect the contact finding with movement and load.
Study Sports Massage at RSM
Develop the anatomical comparison, contact control and re-assessment skills behind this note. View Sports Massage course details. Explore the clinical guide. Check the official course schedule.
For the landmark and clinical palpation foundation, explore the Trigger Point Therapy course.
About the Author
Hironori Ikeda, MSc Sports Medicine is the lead instructor at RSM International Academy. His teaching connects functional anatomy, clinical palpation, treatment decisions and re-assessment.