Health and wellness massage therapy has been proven to offer various benefits that will be discussed in this article. If you have never received a massage for health reasons, now is a good time to try it. There is increasing evidence that suggests it can help in a myriad of ways to improve a person’s health.
Relaxation or Depression Fighter?
Massage therapy started as a relaxation therapy, designed to ease sore or tired muscles and ease tension and anxiety. Yet it was often thought this was just because of the relaxing way in which most massage is performed. It was not thought to have long lasting benefits, but simply wipe away the cares of the day. Research has proven that regular massages actually chemically change our biochemical reactions in our bodies.
A study on its affects on depressed or anxious individuals revealed that the stress hormone cortisol is reduced by up to 53% directly after massage. Cortisol drives up blood pressure, blood sugar and suppresses the immune system. The massage also increased serotonin and dopamine that aids in reducing depression. Massage therapy not only ‘feels’ like it changes our moods, it actually chemically produces internal physiological factors to help fight anxiety, depression and stress.
Muscle Therapy
Muscle massage therapies have now also been proven to fight muscle inflammation, reduce pain and swelling of the muscles, fight fibromyalgia and help chronic low back issues. A recent study in Canada found evidence on a cellular level that massage therapy directly after rigorous exercise actually reduced the production of cytokines, the proteins responsible for inflammation and swelling, much like anti-inflammatory medications.
Numerous studies on the effects of massage on osteoarthritis patients show that their pain levels decrease and become manageable without medication if provided with a consistent massage schedule. Patients in a chronic low back pain study were twice as likely as those without massage therapy to have reduced pain and increased function.
Fibromyalgia sufferers were treated to a regular massage against a control group of no such massage and the study had great success on alleviating joint pain and increasing quality of life issues directly after massage and up to one month after the program ended. Massage therapy has many benefits for injured muscles from a variety of causes.
Immune System Responses
There are many studies that espouse the benefits of massage on the immune system and how it helps our overall health and wellness. A recent study of pre-term babies that received regular massage therapy against a control group proved that it helped these babies increase their immune system pathogen fighting antibodies and increased weight gain over the control group.
Another large study proved that the immune system was changed as a result of one 45 minute session of Swedish massage compared with a control group that received no massage. The results showed:
- A notable decrease in cytokines
- A decrease in the stress producing hormone cortisol
- A large decrease in the hormone Arginine Vassopressin linked to anger and aggressive behavior which also increases cortisol
- An increase in lymphocytes the cells that play a large part in fighting off disease in the body.
The immune system is directly affected by just one such massage therapy session, imagine what a regular scheduled weekly or monthly massage therapy session could do for your overall health and wellness. Massage therapy aids in numerous other ailments including insomnia, stroke, sprains, whiplash, Parkinson’s disease, asthma, increasing circulation and joint mobility. Add it to your list of medicines and feel its healing effects.
There is more anecdotal evidence than ever before, and overlooking massage therapy as part of your regular wellness routine is a mistake in our opinion. Small businesses like Crane Massage Therapy have made it easier than ever before to access this service. Give it a consideration if you are serious about your overall wellness.
Neal Lyons is a writer and advocate of Massage Therapy schools and education. He writes about selecting the appropriate Massage Therapy Schools and helping aspiring therapists establish fruitful careers in the field of massage. You can read more of his work here.
Neal Lyons
Melinda Hauller
Jeanne Rominski
http://www.massagetherapyschoolsinformation.com
1-Currin, J. Meister, E.A. (2008) A hospital-based intervention using massage to reduce distress among oncology patients. Cancer Nurs. 31(3):214-21.
2-Rapaport, M. H., Schettler, P., Bresee, C. (2010) A Preliminary Study of the Effects of a Single Session of Swedish Massage on Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal and Immune Function in Normal Individuals. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 16(10), 1-10.
3-National Survey conducted by the Health Forum/American Hospital Association
I wanted to give my two cents just to say that it is clear how important massage is in sports. I am confident to say that every professional club in every sport has their own professional masseur. Recovery, and injury prevention are two great outcomes of massage, and are used regularly is sports for teams to get the best out of their athletes.
Massage therapy offers much benefit for the body. Through this blog one thing I get that regular massage is one of the best alternative medicines for the different types of diseases such as stress, back pain, anxiety, and depression etc. Regular massage reduced the stress hormone from the body.
Awesome post!!
Massage therapy is quite helpful and stress relieving.
It also helps to enhance your beauty from within.
We need to educate our clients on the benefits of regular massage therapy, not just one-time or sporadic treatments.
Yes you are right on point about regular massages! Most people still think its a luxury and not a necessity. People need to be really educated on the benefits of massage and why its needed on a regular basis. They need to be informed of the value of it. As therapists its our job to break ot down to why they need us. I shake my head at therapists who don’t pursue possible long term clients. Thankyou for sharing! 🙂
nice information.
Massage therapy can increase immune system. Most of people don’t really get their massage done on regular time, but they should understand the benefit of massage. Massage therapy is one of the best alternative medicines for stress reduction and back pain.
Massage therapy helps to get rid of our knots and decreases the pain. This will relax your body and make it function effectively and efficiently.
I am simply amazed at how much science there is supporting massage therapy, yet people still question it. People complain about the price, but deep tissue and thai massage can really fix back pain and posture. It’s way cheaper than getting back surgery. If you’re every looking for a great massage in springfield va, check out