Massage therapy is one of the best ways to help your muscles to relax as well as to deal with the stress of workouts in general so that you can build up more muscle in the future in general.  It affects the function and it has to be therapeutic massage of course.  It combines your sympathetic nervous system to create a reflexive response in general that relaxes your muscles.  This gives your muscles a little break and allows tension to seep out to reduce restrictions, tightness, stiffness, and spasms. 

This gives you greater flexibility as well.  It increases blood circulation and nutritional substances by proxy, and it also reduces the amount of creatine activity in the blood that would cause greater energy and otherwise stimulation.  After just a few minutes, it can help you to recuperate and otherwise.  There are some massage techniques that are naturally better than others.  For example, cross fiber friction helps you to separate muscle fibers and it tunes down the muscle spasms.  It also helps to cut down trigger points or knots in general for greater effects and greater workouts in general.  A well trained massage therapist will be able to give you all these benefits and more, because they will know the right techniques.