Stop Saying Massage “Flushes Toxins”

In massage school, I was taught that one of the main benefits of massage was helping the body flush toxins: pushing fluid toward the heart, reducing burden, and helping the body heal faster.

The body knew what it was doing, we just had to assist it.

I also was taught that massage squeezes stored lactic acid out of muscles and into the bloodstream. That’s why you feel so good afterward, but might feel sore if you don’t drink enough water to flush those toxins out.

It was a simple, satisfying belief.

I had also been raised to believe that God made our bodies perfectly, though the world was sinful. We could be washed clean from our sins if we repented and prayed. Repentance wasn’t easy, often it was painful. The worse the sin, the more painful the cleansing.

The parallels were seamless.

Our bodies were miraculous and self-healing as long as we did the right things:

Eat the right food.

Exercise correctly.

Take vitamins.

Get massages, acupuncture, reiki, therapy (so the anger doesn’t get stuck in your liver).

Maintain a healthy weight.

Have regular 28-day cycles.

Be disciplined. Be good.

And if something went wrong?

Well.

Maybe you didn’t do it right.

There was always a quiet knocking at the edges of that belief for me:

Both of my grandfathers died of cancer.

My mother lived with schizoaffective and bipolar disorders.

She endured ruptured spinal discs, repeated surgeries, chronic pain.

I struggled with infertility.

But it was easier to believe these were somehow personal failings. Or lessons. Or consequences. That felt safer than admitting we don’t control as much as we think.

Curiosity is what unraveled it for me.

After massage school, I started reading. Researching. Listening to experts outside the bubble.

One of the first myths I encountered was the idea that massage releases lactic acid or “flushes toxins.” Studies biopsying muscle tissue after exercise show that lactate levels naturally return to baseline within minutes. Massage does not squeeze toxins out of muscle tissue — and may even slow certain aspects of metabolic recovery.

If lactic acid isn’t just sitting in the muscles waiting to be pushed out… then what causes soreness?

That question sent me down a rabbit hole that changed everything: how I practice, how I teach, and how I see the body.

Then, three years after massage school, I had a stillbirth.

My daughter, Rosalie, was born and died on January 18, 2017.

The deepest pain wasn’t just the loss.

It was the belief that my body had failed.

“Our bodies know how to heal.”

“Millions of women do this every day.”

So what had I done wrong?

Not enough vegetables?

Too much weight gain?

Not enough prayer? Not the right kind?

The illusion of control cracked wide open.

Healing, for me, became less about optimizing and more about surrendering control. Therapy. Reading about social determinants of health. Feminism. Disability activism. Systems. Genetics. Access. Privilege. Randomness.

I began to see how deeply the toxin myth fit into a much bigger story.

Because when we tell clients their bodies are full of toxins that need flushing, we reinforce a subtle but powerful message:

Your body is dirty.

Your body is flawed.

Your body needs fixing.

And that belief rarely stops at muscle tissue.

It becomes:

“I am toxic.”

“I caused this.”

“If I just did better, I wouldn’t be suffering.”

The toxin narrative supports a worldview where there is one perfect way to live, and if you achieve it, you can avoid pain, illness, and even death.

But that’s not how bodies work.

That’s not how life works.

So here’s the turn.

Compassion.

Release the illusion of total control.

Believe people in their suffering.

Understand that health is shaped by genetics, geography, access, trauma, community, and systems far beyond individual willpower.

We do have agency, but not omnipotence.

We can:

Move our bodies.

Rest.

Nourish ourselves.

Connect.

Seek support.

Create joy.

Get a massage because it feels good.

And feeling good matters.

Massage can reduce stress.

Lower blood pressure.

Improve mood.

Increase body awareness.

Support regulation.

Not because it flushed something dirty out of you.

But because your nervous system softened.

Your body is not broken.

Your body is not toxic.

Your body is you.

Wear it like your favorite sweater.