Healing Touch - Massage Therapy For Seniors

The healing touch provided by massage can be beneficial for many conditions, but is especially useful in senior care or if your loved one has limited mobility or is in a wheelchair. Lack of movement causes the circulation to diminish and nerve function to decline. As a result, muscles atrophy and shorten, resulting in tight joints that can't straighten normally. Prolonged contraction of muscles due to inactivity can be helped with massage and gentle stretching. Massage also calms the central nervous system and reduces muscle tension, which eases chronic pain and improves sleep patterns.

Other benefits of massage for seniors and those with limited mobility:

· Improves relaxation and communication

· Increases range of motion and pain management for arthritis sufferers

· Triggers natural joint lubrication through increased circulation, improving mobility

· Increases coordination, strength, flexibility and posture

· Expedites healing of wounds

· Boosts energy level and mental awareness

· Stimulates respiration

· Stimulates digestion and elimination of toxins

That mental well-being can often be accomplished by the simple but profound act of gentle, soothing touch. It can provide seniors with a sense of value not found through other forms of therapy or interaction with people. "Our bodies are designed to be touched", says Paul Escriva, certified massage therapist with a practice in Chicago. "Massage for seniors, especially, is about human touch. They are not touched very much and when they are touched, it is usually not nurturing touch. It is catheters and needles and not about communication."

Massage has also been shown to be therapeutic for specific conditions such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. A study by the Touch Research Institute showed that adults with Parkinson's disease who received massage therapy or progressive muscle relaxation twice a week for five weeks performed better in daily living activities and rated themselves as improved in daily functioning. Massage has been shown to aid those with Alzheimer's disease as well, with some of its biggest benefits including the maintaining and rebuilding the nervous system's response to stimuli to help resist physical and mental decline. In addition, those with Alzheimer's disease have great potential to respond well to massage therapy as another form of communication with those closest to them.