Massage has been an important part of medicine for over five
thousand years. It is also a major topic in the first medical
texts printed. The first medical texts were used by early
physicians who were primarily men. These men commonly practiced
the art of massage therapy when treating and caring for their
patients. I only mention this because I have spoke to many
people who find it surprising in today's world, that there are
men who are professional Massage Therapists. Today Massage
therapy is primarily a career chosen by women. Whether your
therapist is male or female should not be of importance, unless
you have a specific reason that makes you uncomfortable getting
a massage from a female or male therapist. What is important is
that your therapist is licensed or certified in the type of
massage that will help you most.
The massage therapy profession has been severely abused by
prostitutes that use massage therapy as a cover up for illegal
sexual activities. The places where they work are often referred
to as "Massage Parlors". That is why massage licensing and many
city ordinances were put into effect. Professional licensing
requires people who want to pursue a career as a massage
therapist to get a specified number training hours from a school
or college of massage. Most states also require that these
students pass a national certification exam that shows that that
person has the ability to identify specific pathologies and has
a good understanding of the human anatomy. This helps to make it
more difficult for illegal parlors to exist and helps to protect
you as a consumer. In recent history the profession has been
abused and still is in some places. If you are interested in
getting a professional, non-sexual massage you should not only
ask if that person is licensed or certified, but also be sure to
ask if they have had any specific training in the area you are
wanting massage for.
Hippocrates, who is considered "The Father of Medicine" was
highly respected in his findings. He is probably the most
respected man in medical history. That is why he is known as
"The Father of Medicine". I have read many historical books that
stated that Hippocrates said, "The physician must be acquainted
with many things and assuredly with rubbing" (Massage Therapy).
Hippocrates had an oath for Medical Doctors to take. I
personally feel that this oath is ignored often when it comes to
the use of Massage Therapy and other fine sources of alternative
health. One version of the Hippocratic oath is printed below if
you are interested in reading it. The first few lines of the
oath seem to be conveniently avoided or forgotten by many of
today's Physicians. I have asked many of my clients if their
physician has ever recommended they get a massage without being
asked about it specifically. Very few of them have ever told me
yes. I have had a few clients that asked their physician
specifically about the benefits of getting a massage in order to
help them with their specific condition or problem. My
experiennce has been that less than half of these people report
that they were ever told by their Physician to pursue treatment
by a Professional Massage Therapist. On the other side of the
argument, I have several Physicians and Nurses that are clients
of mine and they have told me that they often refer patients to
get Massages. Most of these Physicians and Nurses have told me
they feel the reason that their patients do not always pursue
their recommendation is because massage is seldom covered by
medical insurance. Over the past years there have been many
studies providing an abundance of proof that certain kinds of
massage therapy are very effective for treating many conditions
when used as either a primary or secondary type of care. Many
insurance companies have put an end to paying for massage
therapy because of a few massage therapists that have billed the
insurance companies for massages that were not considered the
appropriate type of massage for that patient or clients
particular condition. Insurance companies expect hard evidence
from clinical studies that have shown that a particular massage
modality or technique has helped with a specific condition,
before they want to reimburse anyone for it. I can't say that I
blame them for that because I would not want to pay for gasoline
if I was given a tank of water. Giving someone a simple
relaxation massage or Reiki treatment may be helpful, but isn't
necessarily the best type of massage treatment for someone with
a specific condition such as low back pain, frozen shoulder,
carpal tunnel, tennis elbow, lymph drainage, migraines, sciatica
and many other conditions. Whereas a professional Massage
Therapist with proper training in one or more of these areas
would be much more effective in treating a specific condition
that they have been trained for.
Most of today's society has been conditioned to believe that
drugs are the fastest and best way to get better. Our society
today wants and expects a drug or procedure that can be
prescribed and can quickly cure whatever is bothering them. I am
not against the use of medical drugs or Physicians. In fact I
highly recommend that you find a Physician who is knowledgeable
about the use of certain drugs and when it is appropriate to use
them. Find a Physician that will take the time to really listen
to you and explain what is wrong, what drugs or other treatment
or procedures you may need, and why it will be of benefit to
you. I say this because I have had several clients that have
come to see me about muscular pain that they have been having.
Muscular pain that they have often seen more than one Physician
or other professional about. These clients tell me that they
still have no idea what is wrong with them or why they have the
pain. Many of them come to see me as a last resort, because they
have exhausted all of their other options. I often ask what they
were told or how they were treated for the pain that they are
having. I often hear them reply that they were given a
prescription for some type of pain reliever and told to rest.
Most of these pain relievers will either help to relax the
muscles because of the effect on the central nervous system or
help to reduce inflammation. These pain relievers often help to
reduce pain and that is about it. What I have found with these
clients is that they have been taking pain relievers for a long
time and have tried many different therapies, rest, heat, cold,
traction, ultra sound, etc... without any lasting results. Many
of those treatments can be helpful for many people but do not
always solve the problem. Massage doesn't always solve the
problem either, but it has been my personal experience that many
of my clients have told me that it did do the trick for them and
that they are very thankful that they gave massage a try.
Sometimes, regardless of all they have tried, the pain continues
because the injury may have an excess of painful scar tissue or
keeps getting re-injured because of their daily activities. It
can even be because of swelling or tension in the muscle that
has caused a lack of blood flow to the area that causes it to
become ischemic (lack of blood flow). Blood flow is needed to
carry the cells that help to heal an area. Without good blood
flow it is unlikely to heal properly. Ischemic tissue may
collect toxins from the slow moving blood around it. Many of
those toxins cause trigger points to develop and cause pain in
the muscle.
So what can a professional Massage Therapist do that is
different for this type of muscular pain? The proper massage
given by a professional with knowledge of how to treat your
specific type of muscular pain may use friction and compression
to help reduce the amount of scar tissue in that area. Scar
tissue is not very flexible, but with massage it can be made to
be more flexible, thus reducing the amount of pain you may have
in that area. A good Massage therapist will be able to tell you
what muscle or muscles are likely to be causing your pain. They
should also be able to tell you what actions or movements these
muscles are responsible for making. This is important to know if
you need to rest the area, so that you do not re-injur it by
doing the same activities or movements that may have caused the
pain or aggravated an old injury. Massage will also help to
increase the blood flow in the affected area, allowing your own
blood to circulate better in the area of injury. This increase
in blood flow will carry cells that your body already uses to
heal injuries. These cells can then get to work on helping you
heal faster. The increase in blood flow will also help to carry
away any toxins from the affected area and help your body to
naturally dispose of them. In almost every case massage will
result in more flexibility, less formation of scar tissue, and
also help the area to heal properly.
So you see, pain relievers more often help to relieve the
symptoms and do not always treat the cause. Very few medical
drugs made will help your body to heal. They mostly cover up the
symptoms you are having. Although I have been told there are a
handful of drugs today that are used for specific conditions,
and I'm told that they can help the body to heal. Mostly they
are newer drugs and not commonly prescribed for everyday
conditions due to the expense and newness of them. Maybe in the
future we will have more medicines that will help the body heal
and can also be used on everyday conditions. But for now I
suggest that you have both a good Physician and a good Licensed
or Certified Massage Therapist on your side. Both that are
willing to work together to help you recover from whatever
conditions you may have. Your Massage Therapist as well as your
Physician should be willing to let you know if you have a
condition that requires someone else's expertise or a
combination of therapies and treatment. Massage is not always
appropriate for all conditions and Massage Therapists do not
diagnose or treat disease. Massage Therapists do not heal you
because they simply use their skills to help facilitate your own
bodies ability to heal itself. Massage therapists are not
Doctors, but a good Licensed or Certified Massage Therapist will
have the training and skills to know when it may be necessary to
refer you to see someone else.
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