Time Magazine has published an interesting article - which goes so far as to say that post-operative massage gives similar pain relief to morphine!

I remember being taught at massage school something called the "pain gate theory". Pain travels through the body via nerve fibres of the nervous system and it's main route to the brain is via the spinal cord. If you injure yourself or have surgery your nerve fibres will be transmitting "OW, OW, OW!!!". If stroking and gentle pressure from massage is added on top of "OW", the nerve pathways aren't sure what to transmit anymore and pleasurable sensations can literally block the pain getting through the "gate" to the brain.

I found the following quote on a Washington University website:

"Although the gate control theory has support from some experiments and does explain some observations seen in pain patients during therapy, it does not explain everything. However, think of this...what is one of the first things you do after you bump your head or pinch a finger by accident? You probably rub it and it feels better, right? Could this be explained by the gate control theory? Well, rubbing your bumped head or pinched finger would activate non-nociceptive touch signals carried into the spinal cord by large nerve fibers. According to the theory, the activity in the large nerve fibers would activate the inhibitory interneuron that would then block the projection neuron and therefore block the pain."

Permission should be sought from your GP, Consultant or Surgeon prior to receiving post-operative massage.