I meant that the damaged discs with the soft tissue protruding out hasnt worsened over the years.
Yep, I meant the build up of collagen fibres that stick to the muscles causing them not to function properly
Surely you have had a sports massage over the years and had knots of collagen broken down by the masseur which allows a better range of movement?
The nucleus of the disc will come out in the non-enclosed herniation. Things such as inflammatory cytokines, which are emitted from a disc that has been herniated, will affect a multitude of tissues near the disc. In addition, the medial branch of dorsal rami that supply the facet joint are subject to inflammation faster than others. No massage is going reduce those two things. As such, things like ligament laxity, joint instability, and even nerve entrapment can be other sources of the pain.
No MRI is going to show you how much interleukin-1 is being emitted by a disc. So, while an MRI may just show mild or mild to moderate reduction in disc height with mild facet arthrosis...there's more that goes into it.
Massaging or MFR is allegedly supposed to help with collagen turnover from type 2 or 3 back to healthy type 1. Yes, I have had some massages...but to think that one visit will cause that turnover is not correct. Most likely what is happening to increase the range of motion is the temperature of the soft tissues (tendons, ligaments) is elevated due to the friction, then the depolarizing of the pain fibers due to pressure, and even reduction in some swelling as lymphatics are stimulated.