Why do scientists and doctors say the "toxins" massage therapists claim to...

[Culture Warrior]

...help flush out of you don't exist? I'm not denying the benefits of massage. But I always hear from massage therapists that the massage is helping to release and flush out built up "toxins" in my body. I've read that there is no medical or scientific evidence that this is the case, and it's all bs. Who is lying here?

 

[phillip b]

mmn remember this The sin bin -Vested interest Apathy and other unworthy systems

As you can see I am not the only one saying this is happening

hi my background is research inventions where i am in touch with quite a few other researchers some of whom have suffered massively dealing with vested interest factions.
so if you value your health you better get aware of these problems and the health care systems
this information certainly has the capacity to unnerve you. However if you do like to know what is going on and are not afraid of the truth read on, it is very enlightening.

Drugs and other treatments
There are a few very important points that I would like to cover on the subject of drugs and research and treatment At present the system in England is this

,and this principle will apply to other countries as well

all treatment recommended by the health care people should be tested and approved and quite rightly so

Obviously it costs vast sums of money to test and approve treatments 5m-10m because of the possible damage to people and the subsequent litigation costing millions of pounds.
The point is this Where does this money come from to test and approve treatments?

By far the biggest source is the drug companies.
Do you think drug companies are some charitable institution –they are there to make profit
What do you think the implications of that statement means

So take for example a researcher might go along to his local drug company and tell them his findings about this treatment he has been working on which is of outstanding value but needs testing further or approving, you might think they would be falling over themselves to know more –right, you could not be more wrong.

only treatments which show a profit will even get examined.

Because they are in business to make a profit, not for serving the people. And if its going to cost 5-10 million to get a treatment approved .
They will want that money back quickly –
so if the treatment is cheap to get hold of ==theres no money in it ==they wont research that one
or if they cannot put a patent on it ==theres no money in it ==they wont research that one


So many of the thousands of therapies which they see as having no profit potential ==do not get approved or researched =your doctor does not tell u about them==thus you may suffer badly as a result

and thus by and large do not get recommended by your local doctor or hospital despite the fact that some of them do have overwhelming benefits some which have saved needless operations, needless amputations, needless pain and trauma, needless kidney failures and much loss of life.

Did you know there are groups of people begging drug companies to look into certain therapies for their possible benefit but many wont –why-- money in the main

Your local G.P/ doctor is not a researcher , what does this mean , he is very taxed with his time that means he cannot do research he finds it very difficult to keep up with what is going on
In the main he is told what to prescribe he does not even have the time often to look at research.

At this minute 2004 approx 5000 Beds are being taken up by people who have had reactions to drugs.

Some will die others will be maimed .That is fact

So Mrs Jones by and large you will probably only get recommended treatments where there is profit in them for someone.
Have you heard your local doctor recommend,
Massage,
Spiritual healing,
Knieisiology
Herbs,
Light therapy,
Colour therapy,
Regression therapy,
Osteopathy,
Zappers,
Magnetic devices,
Electrical Frequency devices
.karma therapy,
Decent nutrition,
Beck devices,
Colonics, enemas,
Detoxing,
The violet ray,
The wet cel
The radial appliance ,

Has he ever mentioned nutrition what you eat how much protein carbo vitamins etc .

All of these have shown their inherent worth with thousands if not millions of testimonials.


As you can see this system in its present state is inherently flawed which is why you are getting recommended what you are

that is until the day comes when most of the research and testing is done by an agency with no vested interests attached and a clear agenda of being objective. Not for profit

Acting for the people s health interest..

There is clear evidence that some of these drug companies will even go much further than just dismiss this proposed treatment especially if it is going to affect their profits.
Imagine they have just spent 5-10 million on some drug –and someone comes up with the bob beck protocol==google this ....

 

[SmartAss]

Science is not reality.

Lying is about reality, not about science.

Understanding this is a key to get rid of mental retardation.

 

[Nitram]

Well, if they had any evidence for these toxins then it would be easy to produce the evidence in support of the idea. Some say you need to drink water so you can flush them out when you pee, the test would seem to be simple just get a group of people give one group a massage, give the second group a quick rub down with the same materials used for the massage and the third group just give them their drink of water.

Put the urine through a spectrum analyzer. So simple, so why haven't these people done the test? It's easy to assert something, it would only be a little more effort to actually show it.

As for "massage does scientifically increase circulation and flush lactic acid from the muscle" I love the way people start "... scientifically ..." Ok, let's see the science. Where is the paper published showing these results?

 

[Nate]

That would really depend on who answers.

Day to day "toxins" are removed from the body via the liver, kidneys and GI tract. Those that can't be removed through these processes will not be removed via massage. You'd need to seek professional medical help for that.

 

[Gary Y]

An answer I gave a similar question today:
Apparently massage releases unspecified 'toxins', and the water is to 'flush' them out.

This idea really is quackery, I seriously doubt that massage would have any effect on accumulated toxins which would be too chemically bound to their target tissues to be released by mechanical manipulation. And water will have no 'flushing' effect; our bodies remove unwanted substances naturally via the liver and kidneys - a few glasses of water is not going to improve this function.

Anyway, wouldn't the rapid release of these toxins damage the body, and cause malaise?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgQ_9sPHxZsDkv7Tre0o_uTty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20101011192756AAVFfCI&show=7#profile-info-hQA9SVZZaa

Some research results:
"It is concluded from the study that the short term body massage is ineffective in enhancing the lactate removal and that an active type of recovery is the best modality for enhancing lactate removal after exercise."
PubMed Abstract: Comparative study of lactate removal in short term
massage of extremities, active recovery and a passive recovery period
after supramaximal exercise sessions
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8833711&dopt=Abstract

"The ability of massage to remove muscle 'toxins' or lactic acid has also been claimed to result in benefits to the healing of muscle damage and DOMS [delayed onset muscle soreness]. It has been well established that lactic acid does not cause muscle soreness sensation and that lactic acid and 'toxins' have no influence on exercise-induced muscle damage. Hence this suggestion can be dismissed outright. In addition, human studies have demonstrated that massage has no influence on post-exercise blood lactate clearance, while mild exercise can significantly speed up its removal. Since, as previously mentioned, massage has little influence on muscle blood flow, this finding is not surprising.
IVIS: A Review of Human Massage Therapy
http://www.ivis.org/proceedings/AAEP/2000/302.pdf

 

[Mia F]

massage does scientifically increase circulation and flush lactic acid from the muscle.
some people also say that is helps remove metabolites from the muscle, which are by byproducts from our body's metabolism process.
our cells are really selective about what they absorb and don't take in more than the need. that is all flushed out of our bodies naturally.

most massage therapists are taught all of this in school, but many don't truly understand what it means. and it's just easier to tell clients "drink plenty of water to flush out those toxins." than to say that massage can be physically draining on the body and keeping yourself hydrated will prevent you from feeling crappy tomorrow.

 

[Tink]

It's not a question of "lying" its a question of terminology....

You can move quite a lot of lympahtic fluids when giving a massage, it can leave a person feeling a little drained and run down the next day or two....it's a natural part of the immune process.....not "toxins", but typically dead cells, broken down proteins, etc, are expelled as a result.

Lymphatic drainage is a common procedure for those in physical therapy. Googling that should give you more info - however, here is a short primer.

http://www.lymphnotes.com/article.php/id/151/

 

[Weise Ente]

Because that claim doesn't make any sense.

You body doesn't build up "toxins" in the first place. Massaging can't magically make them disappear either.

They never bother to say which toxins either. Unfortunately for them, toxin has an actual definition. It's a category, not a nebulous evil.