If it weren't for the fact that I'm occasionally a dumbass, this article never would have been written. It was almost two years ago that I was challenged to a race by a champion swimmer. Being that said swimmer was a 10-year-old girl, I thought I had a chance. Although I rarely swim and never do lengths, I believed all my other exercise endeavours made me fit enough to be up to the challenge. Did I mention there was beer involved in this decision?

I stood at the edge of a dock overlooking a cold lake in the Okanagan, flexing my not-warmed up and not-swimming-trained muscles, with a couple of malt and barley beverages in my belly, and dove in, swimming as fast as I possibly could.

About two-thirds of the way to the finish line I was losing (but not that badly), and I felt something in my left shoulder rip. D'oh!

My left arm became largely useless for the next few days, the sucking of which was compounded by being left-handed. When I got home, I underwent some physiotherapy and started rehabbing it in the gym. It took four months to get back to my usual level of strength and a full 18 months before I was pain-free.

I got to enjoy two months without pain when, after a minor ski wipeout, I felt like I had done exactly the same injury all over again. Well, crud. I guess it wasn't completely healed after all.

My wife, who was tired of my moaning, suggested I try massage therapy this time to speed the healing process. Even though I have a righteous benefits program that would pay for it, I was skeptical that it would help and decided to do a bit of research before proceeding.

The first thing I learned is it appears as though massage is good for accelerating recovery from intense exercise. Research published in a 2008 article in Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, by Timothy Butterfield, et al., found the muscle damage associated with training was significantly reduced - in rabbits - when shortly followed with massage therapy compared to no massage.

While the Butterfield study didn't apply to my situation (especially since I'm not a rabbit), it seemed to bode well for massage as a form of injury treatment, so I kept digging. The next article I found was in the July 2009 Journal of Orthopoedic and Sports Physical Therapy, by Terry Loghmani and Stuart Warden, which determined cross-fibre massage accelerated healing in injured knees. Of course, my issue was the shoulder, but both shoulders and knees are injury-prone joints so I felt like this was closer, except for the small issue of these being rat knees instead of human knees.

Part of the reason for the use of animal studies, I learned, was to eliminate the placebo effect of massage. It's not like a drug trial where you can give one group a pharmaceutical and the other sugar pills. People know if they've received a massage. The part of the rat study I found most interesting was that the authors hypothesized massage had favourable effects on collagen fibre growth and organization. They also determined massage had minimal effect on the final outcome of healing, but simply accelerated it. Being that it had taken me 18 months to get pain-free the first time, faster healing was desirable.

My wife had heard of a good massage therapist, and I booked a torture session with her. I'm not kidding; it really was torture.

My appointment was with Treycee Cox of Get Back in Balance. I know that massage can be relaxing, but that wasn't what I was after. I figured if Treycee was going to do my shoulder any good, then she was going to have to hurt me.

Sometimes I hate being right.

Treycee did a thorough exam and I was impressed with her knowledge of muscle anatomy. As a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, I've memorized my share of muscle terminology, but her knowledge was far superior.

Treycee determined I had developed a lot of scar tissue from the original injury. "Muscle and collagen fibres are supposed to run straight along the line of tension," she said, "but when they are injured, they often heal up in more of a haystack formation." I knew this to be true from my CSCS course.

"What happens," she continued, "is that these fibres end up being not as elastic, and inefficiencies are created in the muscle." Yup. That sure happened with me. "The body then creates scar tissue in order to help reinforce the weakened muscle."

So, my treatment was to break down the "haystack"-formation scar tissue fibres using cross-fibre friction and stretch them out again along the proper lines of tension in order to get them to realign in the correct manner.

And it was going to hurt.

The research seemed favourable about the potential outcome for this treatment, and so is my anecdotal story. It had been three days since my ski accident and the shoulder pain had caused my left trapezius to go into spasm, which was giving me a constant headache. After my first session in Treycee's house of pain, my headache was gone. After two sessions, I felt like I was getting mobility back far faster than the first time I injured it. After six sessions over a one-month period, I was pleased at how much more quickly it was healing compared to the first time I injured it.

As of this writing, it's been two weeks since I saw Treycee and six weeks since the injury. I'm not totally pain-free, but it's far more tolerable and healing continues to progress rapidly. I'm also functioning at close to 100 per cent in the gym, so I'm personally convinced of the benefits.

If you decide to give it a try, there are some suggestions about choosing a massage therapist:

In British Columbia, where the practice is regulated, to call oneself a massage therapist it is necessary to be a Registered Massage Therapist (RMT). In Alberta, however, there is no such requirement, so make sure your massage therapist is registered, because this means they've actually received the appropriate training.

Look for someone with experience. If you can find an RMT through a trusted referral, then that's a good idea.

If you're seeking therapeutic massage for injury rehabilitation, they should do an assessment of the injured area before proceeding with treatment.

The whole process of using massage to treat an injured area isn't relaxing or fun, and the science isn't conclusive about its benefits, but there is promising research that shows it is effective. From personal experience, I'm inclined to agree.

About the Author

James S. Fell, MBA, CSCS, is a freelance fitness writer and author of Body for Wife: The Family Guy's Guide to Getting in Shape.

"Hands-on Rehabilitation" first appeared in the 2010 July/August Summer Sports Issue of IMPACT Magazine.