It seems kind of counter-intuitive when you think about it, doesn’t it?
I mean, you don’t crave to have a bruise rubbed (ouch!). You certainly don’t want anyone rubbing a cut or a gash. However, massaging an aching muscle feels so damned good that one almost wants to get the muscle sore just to have the pleasure of rubbing it.
Why is that?
::rubbing her sore pectorals after doing pushups yesterday::
Because you’re young? Say under 50?
Doug 
I’m way over 50 and having my sore muscles massaged still feels good to me.
Heck, they don’t have to be sore. Massage feels great.
Massage breaks down damaged tissue, including scar tissues. That’s a large part of why you feel better afterwards. I believe (but am not sure) that it also triggers endorphins to be released.
I’m under 50 and it hurts like hell to me. I don’t like anybody touching my sore muscles.
You’re probably right in that massage triggers endorphins. This is true even when one is not sore at all to begin with.
However, it feels good right away to rub an aching muscle. I’m thinking it has something to do with your first sentence, that sore muscles crave rubbing because it’s somehow beneficial for them to do so. I do know that the muscle can feel like stiff painful gristle before the rubbing, and warm and flexible and less painful afterwards. You’re probably right - the rubbing drives some damaged crud out.
It’s not just muscles. I currently have a chronically sore shoulder joint and a pulled Achilles’ tendon. Both feel good if I very gently massage them. There’s a slight increase in pain, but it’s a “good” pain.
And I’m way over 50.
My wife tells me she seems to recall that massage breaks up molecules with a name that begins with “lact.” She says these molecules are the same thing that is responsible for rigor mortis.
Who knows, maybe she’s right.
-FrL-
ETA Wikipedia on Rigor Mortis makes no mention of anything having to do with “lact,” so maybe she’s wrong.
There used to be a theory that the buildup of lactic acid in the muscles during exertion makes them sore, although it’s been disproved. Perhaps that’s what your wife was thinking of?
::Must…resist…offer…to…help…with…this::
And I am pretty sure lactic acid buildup is a contributor to muscle soreness. Where was that debunked? The other part of soreness are microscopic tears in the muscle from working out (normal).
Why it feels good? Not sure except perhaps it is like your muscles getting use without actually working on their own. Just a WAG…no idea really but I love it.
Often, the soreness occurs in muscles that we cannot easily reach, if at all. It’s necessary to have someone else step in at that point.
It hurts like hell to have damaged muscles worked on in physical therapy, but it is necessary so they don’t tighten up.
It also hurts me a bit when I am at the spa and have been working on papers or the computer quite a lot and then they find the sore spots on the side of my neck. But I let them knead away to reduce the tension.
See this ‘Ask the Experts’ column in Scientific American
There’s a good summary of recent research on muscle soreness (including the lactic-acid debunking) here, from a few months ago in the New York Times.
I get a massage every week or two, and no doubt it always seems to do the most good for me the day after a really hard workout.
But no matter when it comes, it feels better afterwards. I tell her to get as deep as she can, and I tell you, during the massage there are times I feel positively abused. Two constantly sore shoulders - lately some upper arm tightness - but it’s much better after.
Can’t tell you why though.
I have back problems from a compression fracture of the T7 and massage is a weird combination of feeling good and pain, but it helps me. For me there is no other option, or so the docs say.
Touche’.
I’m not all that thrilled with anyone massaging my “healthy” muscles. Apart from sex, I don’t like being massaged. Maybe I’m weird.
Are there any real studies on what massage does for you? I’ve always been skeptical that it does anything but feel nice (for those that like that sort of thing) and view them as a wasteful luxury,.
There are different kinds of massage. At a spa, you get a “relaxation massage” and that might be a “wasteful luxury”. My sports medicine doctor prescribed therapautic massage to help a couple different muscle injuries. Therapautic massage is covered by my benefits plan, relaxation massage is not.
There are therapeutic advantages to massage (although it’s often blown way out of proportion.)
It helps release tension to improve circulation (and it’s usually good to improve blood flow when you’re healing) and it can help improve mobility in muslces that are in spasm. In my experience receiving therapeutic massage, the massage has helped to relax muscles that are in serious spasm and are essentially clenching and I’m unable to get them to release.
Eg/ Flex your biceps like the Incredbile Hulk. Now imagine you can’t unflex and you’re biceps are stuck that way. Or try to reach out in front of you while you’re flexing your biceps. It’s not easy. That’s sort of what I did to a calf muscle. Massage helped the muscle let go.
Speculation: I think the pain factor works in the same way as scratching an itch. IIRC, Cecil has a Straigth Dope column about scratching that basically says the irritation of the scratch overwhelms the iritation of the itch, so it’s less annoying. I suspect kneading sore muscles works in a similar way, so it helps with pain management to a degree, but YMMV.
There are some studies out there. Of course, the situation doesn’t seem to be as simple as saying “Yes, massage is good for you” or “No, massage is a waste of time”. What it looks like is that certain techniques, applied by someone who knows what they’re doing, are helpful.