Massaging the shins makes no sense.
Massage is often applied to improve flexibility and reduce stiffness of muscle-tendon tissues, but there is no supporting evidence that such mechanical effects occur. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of massage on the passive mechanical properties of the calf muscle complex.
Twenty-nine healthy volunteers, aged 18-45 years, were recruited to
Muscular compliance of the tibia and dorsiflexion range of motion (ROM) of the ankle joint were measured using an instrumented footplate before, immediately after, and 30 minutes after the application of 10 minutes of deep massage and surface heating.
Repeated measures analysis of variance was used to determine differences between test sessions and types of interventions, and reliability testing of the measurement methods was conducted using analysis of variance within and between test sessions.
Results.
There was no significant change in tibial muscle stiffness or ankle dorsiflexion range of motion with or without the application of tibial massage.
Inter- and intra-session reliability was very high, ICC> 0.88 (p <0.001).
The conclusion was that there was no change whatsoever to the passive mechanical properties of the tibia muscle complex by doing massage.In other words, massaging the tibia to improve flexibility before exercise only causes sensory changes, but not mechanical changes.
Thomson, D., Gupta, A., Arundell, J. et al. Deep soft-tissue massage applied to healthy calf muscle has no effect on passive mechanical properties: a randomized, single-blind, cross-over study. BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil 7, 21 (2015). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13102-015-0015-8
Summary
The results of this study show that massage of the tibia performed on healthy individuals has no effect on mechanical properties. When mechanical changes do occur, it is not known what happens with long-term interventions, so the results of this study may not be applicable.
Common interventions on the tibia, such as surface heating and massage, have nothing but psychological effects in healthy people. However, it is important to consider that the results are due to bias, so it is possible to say that the intervention is based on scientific evidence, but what are you doing with the massage on the tibia? So, when you say you are going to intervene with scientific evidence, what are you doing with a massage on your shins?
Why don't you just use it to soothe your mind?
