Do not settle for anything less than High-Quality & Exceptional performance!
✅Lifetime warranty!
up to 25% off Ekrin⬇️@ Check Out
Your HSA/FSA expires on 31st Dec. All Ekrin massage guns are HSA/FSA eligible!
25% to 35%Discountis applied at checkout. For the best deals, click here →
If you’ve ever had a massage, you’re probably familiar with the idea that it can help release toxins from your body. But is this really true? And, if so, what toxins are released after a massage, exactly?
When it comes to this common misconception, there isn’t a lot of evidence to support massage and toxin release. But it’s not as simple as you might think.
Keep reading to learn more about how massage might affect toxins in the body, what toxins are released during massage, and which types of massage have the most potential for this elusive benefit.
Let’s get started!
While it might be easy to jump to conclusions about the role of massage toxin release from the body, if we want to understand the situation fully, we’ll need to talk about how massage could help with toxin release.
Of course, we should start by mentioning that the American Massage Therapy Association clearly states that the idea of “squeezing” toxins in the muscles and soft tissue during massage is a myth1. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, it’s worth talking about what’s probably actually happening during a massage.
Throughout your day, many tissues in your body constantly accept nutrients from your bloodstream and release body waste products as part of their natural metabolism. Because of this, the tissues of your body are typically releasing waste products and toxins at a regular rate, and that’s a very good thing for your health!
This means that the body waste products or “toxins released during massage” are probably no different from what’s released on any typical day.
Now, let’s get into the details of this process a little bit more.
When it comes to techniques like deep tissue massage therapy, we know that the pressure applied to the tissues of your body causes an increase in circulation, which means more nutrients are going in and more metabolic waste products are coming out. In theory, this also means an increased rate of toxin release from massage, from the targeted tissues.
Keep in mind that this doesn’t necessarily mean that the metabolic waste products or “toxins from body” being released are any different from those that would typically be released with normal blood circulation in the body; it’s just more likely that they’re being released faster due to pressure when massaging.
Your body does a very good job at regulating bodily waste on its own, and most waste products or toxins are released into the bloodstream and will likely be removed by organs like your liver and kidneys quickly2, so there’s very little to worry about body waste removal!
Okay, but why do so many people feel tired or sick after a thorough massage, and what can you do to minimize those side effects?
Regardless of whether or not ‘release of toxins from muscle‘ and ‘deep tissue massage release toxins‘ occur during a massage, many people report feeling drained, tired, or slightly ill after their treatment. This can be due to several factors, but some of the most likely are circulation, hydration, and inflammation proteins.
As mentioned earlier, massage affects circulation because body nutrients and metabolic waste products are cycled through tissues more quickly. While these changes in circulation are only temporary, they can contribute to symptoms such as experiencing an after-massage headache.
There’s no denying that massage affects hydration, and changes in human body water percentage can impact how well our bodies function. You may feel weak, lightheaded, or tired after a massage when you’re not well-hydrated. Overall, this is probably the biggest reason many experience feeling sick after a massage.
Inflammatory proteins are an essential part of our natural healing process. Increased amounts of inflammatory proteins can contribute to an immune system inflammatory response that feels very similar to signs your body is fighting a virus.
To minimize the impact of these side effects, here are a few tips to better manage them:
By this point, hopefully, we’ve made it clear that toxin release after a massage is an often misunderstood concept that should be talked about with a certain level of skepticism. Therefore, the best massage to release toxins is likely better to promote blood circulation and lymph drainage throughout the body.
Keeping that in mind, here are a few massage techniques worth mentioning that are more likely to play a role in releasing toxins from muscles compared to others:
This type of massage is designed to increase lymph circulation throughout the body3. Lymph is a fluid your body uses to carry many different metabolic waste products, or for body waste removal.
By focusing on a more gentle massage approach, this one may be the best massage to release toxins.
Related: Massage Gun for Lymphatic Drainage – Worth Using? Which One To Choose?
Although less gentle than lymph massage, deep-tissue massage is designed to get maximal circulation through muscles and soft tissue using large amounts of pressure.
As a means of increasing circulation through tissues and potentially clearing bodily waste faster, deep tissue massage easily earns our second spot.
Related: Best Deep Tissue Massage Guns – Our Experts weigh in.
Because this device uses suction to “lift” muscle and soft tissue layers, cupping toxin removal can enhance circulation and help with body waste removal in a targeted area.
While cupping isn’t as popular as deep tissue massage, it can be combined for maximum benefit.
Related: We’ve covered a couple of cutting-edge cupping therapy massagers on our blog that are truly game-changers. Give them a look:
Let’s face it—many of us don’t have access to a personal massage therapist regularly. This is where massage guns come in! These devices use a percussing head to provide a percussion therapy that the user can fully customize and control.
For this reason, massage tools like massage guns have become incredibly popular for providing health and wellness benefits, making it easy to enjoy the advantages of massage therapy in the home.
Here at MassageGunAdvice, we’re experts in percussion massagers. We’ve personally tested hundreds of devices, and we provide trusted reviews and recommendations to help you find the best massage gun for your specific needs, eliminating the guesswork from your search.
While we can’t say for sure that percussive therapy directly aids in releasing toxins from muscles, we can say that it’s possible to get many of the same effects from percussive massage guns that you would get from a traditional or deep tissue massage movements4,5.
This can be a total game changer for many people because it removes the access barrier we often face to get a quality massage when needed.
While your needs may vary based on factors such as your health history, weight, size, and response to percussive devices, rest assured that many well-designed massage guns are available to help you enjoy many massage benefits from the comfort of your home.
TIP: The best place to start exploring our massage gun content is our best guide, which we encourage you to check out now.
When it comes to the common question, “What toxins are released after massage?” it can be hard to find good answers. Hopefully, after reading this article, you will feel better prepared to answer this question and make the most out of your future massages.
While massage isn’t really a home run for releasing toxins from body, it can clearly impact the metabolism of our muscles and tissues. On top of that, certain techniques like lymph drainage and deep tissue massage movements may have more potential for clearing certain types of bodily waste, promoting overall detox benefit, and as one of the ways to improve health and wellness.
If you’re curious about how a percussive massage gun can benefit your overall health and wellness, be sure to check out some of our expert reviews to learn more.
Happy massaging!
Here are some of the most common questions about massage, toxins from body, and the release of toxins:
While the effects of a massage will vary between people, it is possible to feel sick after a massage. This is likely due to a combination of changes in blood circulation, increased presence of inflammation proteins in the blood, and sudden changes in hydration, causing an immune system response.
However, it is unlikely that this phenomenon is a direct response to a particular toxin or pathogen.
Although massage cannot definitively flush out toxins, certain types of massage are thought to assist the body’s lymphatic system in clearing metabolic waste products from the body by pumping muscles and fascia.
However, it is very unlikely that massage can be used to remove any particular chemicals from the body or that there are toxin-related health benefits to massage outside of this potential example.
Because your body moves blood through the circulatory system very quickly, it is likely that any toxins potentially released from tissues during massage will be quickly taken into the bloodstream and then filtered out by other organs, such as the liver and kidneys.
In theory, this entire process would take a few minutes to a few hours based on normal human physiology, the type of toxin, and the amount of body waste products being removed from the blood.
Here's a quick rundown of all the tweaks and edits we've made to this article to keep it accurate and up-to-date!
Current version.
Published on:
•
Written by:
Dr. Alex Stone, DPT, CSCS
Disclaimers
The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors. Any content provided by our bloggers or authors is of their opinion and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.
All product names, logos, and brands are the property of their respective owners. All company, product, and service names used on this website are for identification purposes only. Use of these names, logos, and brands does not imply endorsement.
Our policy is to make every effort to respect the copyrights of outside parties. If you believe your copyright has been misused, please provide us with a message stating your position, and we will endeavor to correct any misuse immediately.
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. If you click on the link and purchase the item, we may receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more here.
