Massage during muscle unloading increases protein turnover in the massaged and non-massaged, contralateral limb, but does not attenuate muscle atrophy.

: In the current issue of Acta Physiologica, Lawrence et al. [1] provide a rigorous investigation into the effects of mechanical massage therapy on skeletal muscle during normal weight bearing (WB) and unloading conditions. One week of hindlimb suspension (HS) in rats was used to determine if massage is an effective therapy to blunt disuse associated muscle loss. Massage therapy increased muscle protein turnover compared to HS control, though muscle atrophy still occurred following massage and muscle disuse. Interestingly, message therapy increased muscle protein turnover in the contralateral, non-messaged limb compared to HS control.