Does Massage Eliminate Toxins from the Body?

The simplest, shortest answer is one word: NO.

When patients books a massage, it is typical to hear: “I am stressed,” “My back hurts,” or “I have a headache.” It’s not typical for someone to say “I would like toxins removed,” or “I would like to reduce the level of pesticides in my body.“ It is easy for a patient to qualify their level of stress or pain before and after a massage. They know how they feel and can tell if the pain is better or worse after a treatment. However, a person cannot quantify if lactid acid has been reduced, toxins have been released or circulation has improved. A patient can report on whether or not he or she “feels better” but has no way of measuring changes in bodily fluids or “toxins”.

A massage therapist cannot chart “reduced toxicity in the body” because there is no way to measure it. A massage therapist can chart “patient reported reduction in pain,” “patient reported decrease in stress level” and “patient ROM improved”.

In order to be able to substantiate that massage eliminates toxins in the body, there would need to be scientific research which defined the word “toxin” and measured how many of those “toxins” were found in the body before and after a massage.

There has never been a study that has measured the amount of pesticides, food preservatives, bi-products from chemotherapy or any other “toxin” in a person’s body before and after massage. If it was true, it would be reasonable to assume that you could eat a case of chocolate bars and then book a deep tissue massage to eliminate the refined sugars, coloring agents and preservatives.

The kidney and liver are the body’s detoxifiers. There is no evidence that massage increases the intricate work of these two organs. They do their job with or without massage.

So what about lymphatic drainage? The primary role of the lymphatic system is to remove interstitual fluid from tissues. If someone is experiencing lymphodema, they are experiencing extra fluid within the tissues, not a toxic overload. MLD techniques reduce edema or extra fluid in the body. Toxins are not the concern when the lymphatic system is not working, extra fluid is. The lymphatic system brings interstitial fluid to the neck where it then enters the blood stream and is then taken to the spleen. There is no research that suggests that massage therapy has any affect of the function of the spleen.

But what about lactic acid? Lactic acid is not a toxin but a metabolite in the body. Reasearch on the affects of massage therapy and lactic acid suggest that massage does not eliminate lactic acid from the body but actually has the opposite affect. What this means is that the body is equipped to deal with lactic acid on its own. Massage does not remove lactic acid from the body.

The ability to measure “toxins” in the body would be an example of a “mechanical outcome.” This requires blood work or some kind of laboratory test (MRI, x-ray) to determine. Massage therapists primary measure “clinical outcomes”. That is what we are trained to do.

What we know about massage is that it makes us feel better even if we don’t always know why.

Ingraham, P. (2018). Why Drink Water After Massage? Massage therapy does not flush toxins into the bloodstream, and water wouldn’t help if it did. Retrieved from https://www.painscience.com/articles/drinking-water-after-massage.php

Walton, T. (n.d.). 5 Myths and Truths About Massage Therapy: Letting Go Without Losing Heart.Massage Therapy Foundation. doi:10.1037/e446732008-001

#toxin #massage