Can a massage worsen an injury?

I am 99% sure that massage made my ITB worse a few years ago. Rest was the only answer in my case (although massage seems to help PREVENT i from flaring back up...)

one time after a run I was at chickfila and some guy asked me if I ran and I said yes. Then he told me a story about how he knew someone who was in the olympic marathon but they got a massage the day before the race and it fukced up their back so they had to DNS. It was kind of depressing.

Just ask Obea Moore

I have a recurring soleus injury. It sometimes flares up after I do hill repeats. When this happens, I wear compression socks until it's fully healed. You might try that.

The straight answer to your question is yes. As in, most definitely yes. Particularly within the first few days after either the initial injury or a re-aggravation of the injury, more often than not massage will make things worse.

Added to that, soleus injuries are notoriously stubborn and slow healing. Trying to shortcut or hurry the process is the wrong approach.

Go back to the basics. Rest and ice. Lots of both. Regarding icing, due to the location of the muscle it takes longer for the cold to penetrate and produce the desired healing effects. Ice for 30 minutes at a time, twice a day.