Should You Exercise After Massage Work

When is comes to the question of whether or not you can exercise after massage work, we need to consider the context and goals.

For example, is the ultimate goal for relaxation?

If simple relaxation is the goal of massage work, then it wouldn't be recommended to exercise afterward.  Relaxation is associated with increased parasympathetic nervous system activity, and exercise is generally associated with sympathetic nervous system activity.  Thus, these are antagonistic concepts.

If pain relief and/or increased range of motion is the goal, then specific types of exercise or movement would be helpful after the massage work.

Let me give you an example.  Let's say your neck is limited in rotation to the right due to some muscular tension and it's been causing discomfort.  After the massage session, neck rotation is improved due to less muscle tension.

The results can be maintained by simply doing repeated neck rotations in both directions throughout the rest of the day in order to "train" the new available range of motion and get it to stick.

When you consider exercise after massage therapy, we are either talking about something very specific, like the example about neck rotation, or general exercise for the whole body.

It's important to know the goal in order to determine the best way to approach working out after massage work.