Many people know the benefits of massage for people, especially if they have had an injury. It can also be a very relaxing experience. It the same way, dogs can benefit from pet massages. The owners can choose to do the massage thyself. Some of the benefits of massaging dogs were included to help him recover after an injury or strain, to be calm an excitable dog, to enhance blood circulation and other body functions, to restore and maintain muscle tone, also taken a chance to bond with dogs, to increase trust, and to provide relaxed effects. We are aimed to provide the available knowledges about the health-beneficial functional massage techniques for the companion dogs through literature review. As the results, we reviewed the massage techniques like as stroking, effleurage, wringing and kneading etc. Massages can improve a number of physical body functions like as blood circulation, gastrointestinal functions, relaxing, muscular stretching, immune activation, human animal bonds in dogs. Also, dog massages could induce the decrease of stress, depression and the palpation of the disease of dogs.

The present study purposed to examine the effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, self-stretching and functional massage on the recovery of muscle contraction force for muscle fatigue caused by sustained isotonic contraction. The subjects of this study were 45 healthy students. They were divided into transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation group(n=15), self-stretching group(n=15) and functional massage group(n=15), and using Primus RS. We observed the pattern of changes in maximal voluntary isometric contraction force(MVIC) after causing muscle fatigue in quadriceps femoris muscle through sustained isotonic contraction. Maximal voluntary isometric contraction force(MVIC) were greatly increased after transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, self-stretching and functional massage. In the comparison of recovery rate of muscle contraction force for muscle fatigue caused by sustained isotonic contraction among the treatment groups, it did not show any significant differences. However, it showed that each treatment may be effective in recovery of muscle fatigue caused by sustained isotonic contraction.

The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of two types of stretching extensor carpi radialis on the visual analog scale (VAS), pressure-pain thresholds (PPTs), grip strength (GS), and strength of wrist extensor (SWE) in patients with lateral epicondylalgia. Sixteen patients with lateral epicondylalgia were recruited for this study and randomly assigned to two groups; the conventional stretching group (CS) and the stretching of proximal functional massage group (PFM); the VAS, PPTs, GS, and SWE were measured before and after the intervention. Over a period of stretching exercises were performed for five minutes per day, five days per week. The paired t-test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were used to determine the statistical differences in the VAS, PPTs, GS, and SWE (pre- and post-test). The Independent t-test and Mann-Whitney U test were used to compare the effects of stretching exercises between the CS and PFM groups. The results of this study demonstrated that in the PFM group, the PPTs, GS, and SWE significantly increased, and the VAS decreased (p<.05). In the CS group, the VAS and GS increased significantly after the three-week intervention (p<.05). Pain was decreased and strength (GS and SWE) was increased in the PFM group, compared to the CS group (p<.05). The findings of this study indicate that PFM technique can be applied for decreasing pain and increasing the GS and SWE in patients with lateral epicondylalgia.