Health Benefits of Massage

When you think of getting a massage, do you consider it a luxury to enjoy only on special occasions?  With so much recent evidence supporting the therapeutic benefits of regular massage, it’s time to include massage as part of your regularly scheduled self-care.

Just as you schedule oil changes for your car, and basic preventive health maintenance such as dental cleaning and annual medical check-ups, regular massage has been shown to reduce pain and stress, improve circulation, stimulate your immune system, and play a huge part in how healthy and youthful you’ll remain year after year.

Benefits of Massage

“Massage offers a drug free non-invasive and humanistic approach based on the body’s natural ability to heal itself” says Body Sense magazine.  Some key benefits to receiving regular massage treatments include:

• Increased circulation, allowing more oxygen and nutrients to be pumped into tissues and vital organs
• Stimulation of the flow of lymph, the body’s natural defense system
• Improved skin condition due to increased circulation of blood and lymph
• Reduced recovery time from strenuous workouts by relaxing and softening overused and injured muscles
• Increased joint flexibility
• Release of endorphins – the body’s natural painkiller.

For patients with low back pain, migraines, limited range of motion such as from arthritis or fibromyalgia, atrophied muscles, and even labor pains in expectant mothers, massage can reduce symptoms and decrease the need for medications.

Short sessions such as a 15 minute chair massage or a 30 minute table session can provide valuable benefits; however, your body will benefit even more from massage when it is given regular “doses”.

Less Stress; More Health

We all know massage can be relaxing, but did you know it can also help boost immunity?  Experts estimate that up to 90 percent of disease is stress related.

Several studies measuring the stress hormone cortisol in massage recipients have shown dramatic reduction in cortisol after massage sessions.  When we are stressed, the body increases cortisol production, which kills cells important to immunity.  By reducing stress through massage, you are also helping your body avoid illness by reducing cortisol levels.

Research at the University of South Florida showed that hypertension patients who received 10 massages of 10 minutes each over three weeks had significant improvement in blood pressure compared to the control group who rested in the same environment without any massage.

Which Technique is Best?

Tiffany Field, founder of the Touch Research Institute (TRI) at the University of Miami School of Medicine, says there is little evidence to support one kind of massage over another.  So regardless of the technique you prefer from your therapist, the benefits stem from the firm pressure applied during massage.

Our modern lifestyles are filled with stress and tension; incorporating the ancient healing tool of massage as a preventative, frequent therapy will not only relax your mind and body, it will support your overall health and beauty!