Does Massage Help Sore Muscles? What the Trials Found, and When to Book

Does massage help sore muscles? Yes, modestly. Three reviews of the trials agree that a massage after hard or unfamiliar exercise leaves muscles less sore over the next one to three days. Whether it brings strength back any faster is disputed, and the largest review of massage found it does not. Against a sham massage the effects shrink, and the soreness goes away on its own within about a week either way. We are Nghê Prana, a riverside hotel and spa on the Thu Bồn at Cẩm Nam in Hội An; we sell massages, so this page sets out what the evidence supports, what it does not, and when sore muscles are a reason to see a doctor instead.

Massage for sore muscles: the short answer

What delayed-onset muscle soreness is

The ache that arrives the day after unfamiliar exercise is delayed-onset muscle soreness, or DOMS. A classic 1984 review describes "pain and stiffness in the muscles that occurs from 1 to 5 d following unaccustomed exercise" (Armstrong). A 2018 review puts the peak at 48 to 72 hours and the cause at "eccentric or unfamiliar forms of exercise" (Hotfiel and colleagues), eccentric meaning a muscle working while it lengthens, as the thighs do going downhill. In a 1983 study, seven people were sore after a downhill run and not after a level run at a harder effort (Schwane and colleagues).

This is not the tenderness some people feel the day after a firm massage, which the massage itself causes; our page on soreness after a massage covers that. Our reading: a day of walking the Old Town, cycling to An Bàng or climbing steps is not hard exercise, but for many travellers it is unaccustomed. The closest trial: eight men who walked downhill on a treadmill for 40 minutes, carrying 10 percent of their body weight, were sore the next day (Farr and colleagues, 2002). A flat street is gentler than that.

What the reviews of massage found

A 2017 analysis of 11 trials found less soreness with massage than with no treatment at 24, 48 and 72 hours, most at 48 and 72 (Guo and colleagues); it also found a small gain in strength, though one of its two strength results reversed when a single trial was removed. A 2018 analysis of 99 studies of recovery methods ranked massage first for soreness and perceived fatigue (Dupuy and colleagues). The largest review of massage alone, 29 studies with 1,012 participants, found soreness improved by 13 percent, "small but statistically significant" (Davis and colleagues, 2020). The trials are tiny: in 10 untrained people, a 10-minute massage of one arm three hours after hard exercise cut soreness by about 30 percent against the other arm (Zainuddin and colleagues, 2005).

On strength, the 2020 review, with 12 studies, found "no evidence that massage improves measures of strength, jump, sprint, endurance or fatigue", and the arm trial, the downhill trial and a hamstring trial found no faster return of strength. A 2016 review of 22 trials called the effects on performance "rather small and partly unclear" (Poppendieck and colleagues). Our reading: massage changes how sore you feel, not how fast the muscle repairs.

Why the reviews and the careful trials disagree

The pooled effects range from 1.13 to 2.26 standard deviations. Our reading: three things explain most of it. First, the control: most trials compared massage with nothing, and soreness is rated by the person who was massaged, which the 2020 review calls "susceptible to placebo effects". Against a sham massage, 18 people were less sore only at 48 hours (Hilbert and colleagues, 2003), and in the largest trial we found, 86 athletes, massage beat a sham by 1.4 points on a 10-point pain scale straight after and not at any later time (Nunes and colleagues, 2025), though its exercise lacked the lengthening work that causes most soreness. Second, quality: the 2017 review rated all its trials low quality, with no blinding, and their results varied widely. Third, counting: it reports 504 participants, but by our count the trials in its own table add up to 239 people. So the relief is real, but smaller and shorter than the biggest numbers suggest: a comfort, not a cure.

When to book: straight after, a few hours later, or the next day

No trial we found compared timings head to head. The positive single trials gave the massage two or three hours after exercise; others gave it two days later, once sore. In one of those, 20 women with sore shoulders had 10 minutes of massage on one side and 10 minutes of exercise with an elastic band on the other; both eased the soreness equally, most in the first 20 minutes, and the effect "diminishes within an hour" (Andersen and colleagues, 2013). A 2003 review says results vary with "the time of massage application" and technique (Cheung and colleagues). The trials mostly used stroking and kneading for 6 to 30 minutes, none we read used an hour, and the 2016 review found 5 to 12 minutes tended to do more for performance than longer sessions. Our reading for a trip: the evening after a long day out is closest to the trials; the next day gives real but short relief; 60 minutes is for comfort, not a stronger dose (see 60 or 90 minutes). Plan nothing hard afterwards (what to do after a massage), and keep firm work away from the morning you fly (best time to get a massage).

Lactic acid is not why you are sore

The most repeated explanation is that sore muscles are full of lactic acid and massage flushes it out. For much of the 20th century lactate was seen as "a dead-end waste product"; it is now understood as "a particularly mobile fuel" (Gladden, 2004). A 2022 review states that "studies in the 1980s largely refuted the role of lactate" in muscle soreness, yet "this belief is widely held even today", including among doctors and scientists (Sonkodi); the author's own case for a role through the nerves is a hypothesis. Our reading of why the myth survives: it was taught for decades, you still hear it in spas, and it sounds like common sense. In the one study that measured blood flow and lactate after a massage, massage cut the flow and removed less lactate; our what to do after a massage page has the details.

A common answer online says massage works by "increasing blood flow" and "clearing out inflammatory chemicals". The second part has some support. In 11 young men, 10 minutes of massage on one thigh after damaging exercise lowered two inflammatory signals in biopsies and had no effect on lactate (Crane and colleagues, 2012); it measured the muscle, not how sore anyone felt. The 2018 review found massage and cold the strongest methods for lowering inflammation markers. But the Harvard study often cited for it was a robot pressing on injured muscle in mice (Seo and colleagues, 2021). Eleven men and some mice are not a proven mechanism.

Massage against stretching, cold water, heat and foam rollers

Planning a trip around this? See dates at our quiet riverside hotel on the Thu Bồn. Check availability →

Stretching is the clearest negative: in a Cochrane review of 12 studies, one with 2,377 people, stretching after exercise cut next-day soreness by about one point on a 100-point scale (Herbert and colleagues, 2011). The 1984 review calls activity "the best treatment", though the relief is temporary. Cold water beat rest in a Cochrane review of small, low-quality trials (Bleakley and colleagues, 2012), and in a 2025 trial of 30 athletes comparing the two, nobody in the cold-water group reported pain at 48 hours, though the trial was not blinded (Pereira and colleagues). Heat packs helped in a 2021 review, other heat did not reach significance (Wang and colleagues), and foam rolling helped a little, its authors judging it better as a warm-up (Wiewelhove and colleagues, 2019). Our reading: our jacuzzi and herbal steam are for pleasure, not proven soreness treatments, and heat goes before a massage, not after.

When soreness is not ordinary soreness

• Dark urine, the colour of tea or cola, pain far worse than the effort explains, or weakness: signs of rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of muscle that can damage the kidneys; they can start days later, and the CDC says "seek medical treatment right away" (CDC).
• Hard exertion in heat you are not used to: the CDC lists heat and exertion as risk factors and says it "typically takes 10-14 days to get used to a new climate" (CDC). Our reading: in your first days in Hội An, pace the big days.
• One calf painful, swollen, warm or red, especially after a flight: possibly a clot; see a doctor first (blood thinners and other conditions).
• Pain that began suddenly, or after a fall or a twist: our reading is that this is not delayed soreness; have it checked.
• A fever of 38.3 °C or more: Werner's textbook rules out massage that asks the body to adapt (when to wait).
• Blood thinners: Werner warns of bruising "even with relatively light massage"; tell us, so the pressure can stay light.

The 1984 review called exertional rhabdomyolysis "the extreme form" of the same soreness. Four hospitals in and around Oslo counted 136 cases between 2019 and 2022, mostly after strength training; 4 percent developed kidney injury (Vangstad and colleagues, 2026). One case report describes a person with flu whose muscle breakdown began straight after a two-hour deep-tissue massage (Dickey and colleagues, 2021). If you suspect it, a spa is the wrong place. If you took ibuprofen for soreness, tell your therapist, because painkillers can hide too much pressure (sore after a massage).

Which of our treatments fit sore muscles

None of our treatments has been tested on sore muscles, and we make no claim that they treat them. The menu calls the oil massage "medium pressure, head to toe", and the back, neck and shoulder treatment "ideal after a flight or a long day walking the Old Town" (for long-standing pain, see back and neck pain). The Thai massage is "stretch-based", and stretching is what the Cochrane review found does not reduce soreness; we found no trial of Thai massage for it. The bamboo massage is "firmer than hands, especially good for legs and back", and firm work can leave its own soreness for a day or two. The hot stone massage adds heat, untested on soreness. Our reading: on legs that are already sore, medium pressure is the safer choice, and the foot massage suits feet that walked all day.

Prices per person, read from our live spa menu on 3 November 2026. At the 26,000₫ rate we use across the site, 60 minutes of oil or foot massage is about US$17 (90 minutes about US$23), back, neck and shoulder about US$19 (US$25), hot stone about US$20 (US$27), and Thai or bamboo about US$22 (US$30). Book one because it feels good after a day on your legs, not to recover faster; the free alternative is gentle movement, such as an easy walk on the sand at An Bàng.

What nobody has measured

The trials are small, from 8 to 86 people, mostly young and fit, and mostly compared massage with nothing rather than a sham. Almost all caused soreness in a laboratory, in one arm or leg, not with a day of sightseeing. We found no trial that compared timings directly, none we read used a full hour, and we found none of Thai, bamboo or hot stone massage for sore muscles. The inflammation finding rests on 11 men. We have not measured anything on our own guests. We are a hotel spa, not a doctor: with dark urine, pain far beyond the effort, weakness, a swollen calf or an injury, see one.

How to book

Nghê Prana Riverside Hotel & Spa, Hẻm 384 Nguyễn Tri Phương, Cẩm Nam, Hội An, on the Thu Bồn, 3.2 km from the Old Town. The spa is open from 9:00 to 21:00 every day and takes visitors as well as hotel guests. Book on the online form or by phone or WhatsApp on +84 896 687 961; an hour's notice is enough, and walk-ins are welcome when the room is free. Tell us at the consultation which muscles are sore and what you did, and whether you take blood thinners or painkillers. Coming as two after a day on bicycles? Two massages side by side fit in the private room on the couple spa page.

Sources: Guo J et al., 2017, Dupuy O et al., 2018, and Wiewelhove T et al., 2019, Frontiers in Physiology; Davis HL et al., 2020, and Vangstad M et al., 2026, BMJ Open Sport and Exercise Medicine; Poppendieck W et al., 2016, and Cheung K et al., 2003, Sports Medicine; Zainuddin Z et al., 2005, and Nunes GS et al., 2025, Journal of Athletic Training; Hilbert JE et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2003; Farr T et al., Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 2002; Andersen LL et al., Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2013; Crane JD et al., 2012, and Seo BR et al., 2021, Science Translational Medicine; Pereira GS et al., PLoS One, 2025; Herbert RD et al., 2011, and Bleakley C et al., 2012, Cochrane; Wang Y et al., Physical Therapy in Sport, 2021; Armstrong RB, 1984, and Schwane JA et al., 1983, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise; Hotfiel T et al., Sportverletzung Sportschaden, 2018; Gladden LB, Journal of Physiology, 2004; Sonkodi B, Metabolites, 2022; Dickey B et al., Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings, 2021; CDC/NIOSH, 28 October 2026; Werner R, A Massage Therapist's Guide to Pathology, 5th ed., pp. 288 and 507. All read 3 November 2026; prices from the Nghê Prana spa menu the same day.