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Did You Know? |
It
is good that nowadays people are aware and open to massage
therapies. But there will always be a percentage of the
population wherein they have not yet embraced wholly the concept
of massage. There are actually a lot of reasons/benefits
one can derive from a massage therapy. Here are 5 of the most
common ones.
Massage Therapy helps:
1. Promote relaxation.
There are different types of activities the body encounters
daily. Each person is unique making activities of daily living
vary from one person to another. But all results in one thing.
At the end of the day your body feels overworked and exhausted.
Your muscles are sore from all the work done.
Massage helps relax and stretch your muscles. There are
different types of massage techniques applied not only to your
skin but to underlying tissues as well.
When your body is relaxed you are ready to start the next day
fresh. You feel rested and you feel anew.
2. Relieve Pain.
Common pains felt are shoulder and back pain. These may be a
result of prolonged sitting, standing, carrying heavy objects
and/or pregnancy.
A massage session helps alleviate the pain you are feeling.
When you are in pain your muscles contract. Your mind
concentrates on the pain making you feel more pain than it
usually is. Sometimes pain can be exaggerated if you think of it
at all times.
Today, massage is not only used for relaxation purposes. It also
plays a role on the therapeutic process of relieving pain.
Different pressures are applied on certain areas.
Massage works 2 ways. It works as a diversion and as a therapy.
When you undergo massage, as stated in number one you feel
relaxed. Sometimes a massage therapist plays a soft music in the
background thus making you think of something else. Aside from
diversion, the type of massage applied for pain is different
from relaxation massage. Different pressures and strokes are
applied on areas of the body experiencing pain.
3. Promote circulation and oxygenation
When a massage therapist manipulates body tissues they not only
manipulate the muscles but blood vessels as well.
How? Blood vessels carry the blood throughout the body. For
every stroke applied the muscles and blood vessels are affected.
Ever notice how massage strokes follow an upward direction? This
action actually helps promote blood supply towards the heart.
The heart then pumps/distributes the blood supplied to the
different parts of the body.
Speaking of oxygenation, blood plays a role in oxygenation. The
blood (red blood cells) carries oxygen. Since massage helps in
blood circulation it also means that it helps distribute oxygen
in the body.
4. Relieve sleeplessness/Insomnia.
This is related to number 1 and 3.
There are times when you experience difficulty trying to sleep.
There are plenty of reasons why. You may be anxious about
tomorrow’s presentation or you just have a lot of things in
mind.
A massage session helps relieve the stress you feel from today
and tomorrow’s work.
5. Promote Flexibility.
Massage helps relieve tensed and knotted muscles. When muscles
are not tensed they are more free. They can move more.
Massage is one good way of a warm-up. It promotes flexibility
thus improving one’s range of motion.
Massage therapy has really come a long way. What used to be a
form of relaxation and recreation is now used to help during
treatments of certain health conditions (alternative healing).