Relax...Relieve...Recover

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Clinical Benefits

Clinical research has shown massage therapy can:

  • Be more effective for chronic back pain than other complementary therapies.
  • Promote relaxation and alleviate the perception of pain and anxiety in cancer patients.
  • Reduce post-traumatic headaches better than cold pack treatments.
  • Lessen pain and muscle spasms in patients who have undergone heart bypass surgery when part of hospital-based sugery treatment.
  • Stimulate the brain to produce endorphins.
  • Improve confidence by encouraging patients to effectively cope with their pain.

Health Benefits of Massage

The effects of a massage can vary according to the techniques employed.  With most methods, the circulation of blood is enhanced throughout the body, the nervous system is calmed or activated and the muscles are stretched and relaxed.  Specific techniques may be employed to target the lymphatic system, the digestive tract or other body systems.  Relieving physical pain and stress improves you mental health and your physical well-being.  Increasing the blood flow through massage can help to flush out waste generated by your muscles and body.  Most people will feel very relaxed and experience relief from long-term aches and pains developed from tension, stress or a repetitive activity.  Following an initial period of calmness, people often experience a surge of energy, heightened awareness and greater productivity that can last for many days.

Massage enhances medical treatments and may shorten the time it take for the body to recover from injury and illness.  Massage or Reflexology can help release chronic muscular tension and pain, improve circulation, increase joint flexibility, reduce mental and physical fatigue and stress, promote faster healing of injured muscular tissue, improve posture and reduce blood pressure.

 

 Muscular Benefits

 

Most types of massage affect the body in a similar way. When muscles are overworked, body waste products such as lactic acid can accumulate, causing soreness, stiffness, and even muscle spasms.  Massage in general-and Swedish massage in particular-improves blood and lymph circulation and brings fresh oxygen and other nutrients to the affected tissues.  This helps to flush out the toxins and enhance recovery. Tense muscles may also compress blood vessels and stretch nerves, restricting blood flow and causing pain.  As the affected area is massaged, the muscles gradually release their strangle hold on the irritated nerves, and the pain eases.  The same mechanisms also make massage helpful in the recovery process for an injured muscle.  In addition, massage has been shown to increase the body's production of pain-killing endorphins and the mood-altering hormone serotonin.  It can also slow the release of the stress hormone cortisol.  For this reason, massage is often prescribed as an adjunctive therapy for people whose immune systems are compromised by stress.

Stress and Massage

Massage is a pleasurable experience.  It increases your body self awareness and sensitivity, reduces your stress, tension and anxitey levels, calms the nervous system, relaxes, focuses and clears you mind, helps to improve and maintain your posture, helps to fulfill your need for a caring and nururing touch, encourages self-esteem and general feeling of well-being and improves your emotional awareness.