The more high technology around us, the more the need for human touch. John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends
Does pain or restricted movement keep you from living the life you want? Sports injuries, household accidents, repetitive movements on the job, and tension from everyday stresses cause problems that, too often, take up permanent residence in our bodies.
Massage can help. Massage is a gentle therapy that can relieve pain and heal certain conditions and help prevent their return. It is one of the best known antidotes for stress. Reducing stress gives you more energy, improves your outlook on life and, in the process, reduces your likelihood of injury and illness.
Massage relieves most muscle tightness, from a sudden charley horse to habitually clenched jaws or tight neck muscles. It acts directly on your muscles with stretching and kneading motions, and stimulates the nervous system to instruct muscles to relax even more.
Massage flushes muscles of built-up waste products that can make you sore after vigorous exercise.
Massage can treat injuries you develop over time, such as tendinitis, as well as ligament sprains or muscle strains caused by accidents. It reduces inflammation by increasing circulation, bringing nutrition to your injured area and removing waste products. Certain massage techniques can limit scar tissue in new injuries, and can reduce, or make more pliable, scar tissue in old injuries.
Massage can treat secondary pain that can outlast the original cause. Examples include headaches from eyestrain, lower backache from pregnancy, or tensing of healthy muscles to protect an injury. Besides releasing tight muscles that restrict joint movement, massage works directly on your joints to improve circulation, stimulate production of natural lubrication, and help relieve pain from conditions such as osteoarthritis.
Massage releases restrictions in muscles, joints, and the muscle's tough connective tissue coverings - the fascia - freeing your body to return to a more natural posture. It can also relieve the contracted muscles and pain caused by abnormal spinal curvatures such as scoliosis.
Massage increases your circulation which, in turn, drains tissues of excess fluid caused by recent injury, surgery, or pregnancy.
How will a treatment feel?
Massage on normal tissue feels good. Treatment on a painful injury may at first cause some discomfort, but usually lessens within the first few minutes. Your massage therapist knows ways to minimize pain, and will work with you to make your treatment feel comfortable. Always tell your massage therapist if you feel any discomfort and he or she will adjust the pressure to the right level.
Your treatment plan
During your first visit, your massage therapist will have you fill out a brief in-take form asking general health questions. A referral from another health practitioner will be reviewed at this time. To determine the treatment best for you, your massage therapist will assess your problem areas, gently feeling for tenderness, and perhaps restricted or painful movement. A treatment of medium length will follow.
Subsequent visits will focus on your problem, and can include work to relieve secondary symptoms in other areas. The number of treatments depends on the severity of your problem, how long you have had it, and your general health.
Always tell your massage therapist if you have a medical problem, even a minor one. Communication with your medical practitioner is essential to determine when massage can help, and when it is not appropriate.
Follow-up massage in times of stress can help keep old pain from flaring up. You may find massage so beneficial that you make it a regular part of your life.