Massage Therapy is an excellent source of health benefits. Massage has been proven to decrease stress, improve circulation, boost energy, and calm the nervous system. Massage can help treat acute injuries and help athletes decrease pain and soreness from intense exercise. Massage Therapy can also help prevent many issues such as frozen shoulder and Repetitive Strain Injury. If you are receiving regular Massages you're less likely to have tension built up into those nasty knots that cause us so much muscle aches and pain. Massage Therapy is even known to lessen the pain associated with Arthritis, Plantar Fasciitis, and Shin Splints. Headache sufferers can greatly benefit from massage of the neck, head, and back as headaches often come from tension in the upper body. The list could go on and on of what painful conditions can be managed and prevented with Massage Therapy.
As a Massage Therapist I am often asked if the tension and knots I feel in my client's body will "ever go away?". "Will my pain be eliminated?" I will always respond the same. Massage Therapy can help you manage your pain, but I will not promise to eliminate it completely. It is my belief that our bodies are not machines and therefore the more you demand from your body, the more you will become aware of the ware and tear you are putting on your body. This is felt through soreness, aches, and sometimes pain.
When pain is present getting a Massage can not only benefit you by decreasing the pain, but the Massage Therapist should also be able to tell you what is possibly happening in your muscles and joints that may have caused the pain in the first place. The goal is to get to the root of the problem.
The Massage Therapist can give you advise on proper stretching techniques and home care tips such as hot/cold therapy. With your help, you can both come up with ideas as to activities and habits you may be doing that could be done in a better way to prevent injury and pain. Sometimes it is as simple as walking with the entirety of your foot, and displaying your weight properly. Sometimes it is the shoulders to ears syndrome as I like to call it, when someone does not relax their shoulders down and back but holds them up to their ears, causing a major strain on their shoulders and neck. This is simply bad posture and can be corrected if you're aware of it! Massage Therapy is wonderful because it makes you so much more aware of your body and the pain patterns that you have going on.
Start young! It is always hardest to work through pain patterns when you've been living with them for 10, 15, 20 years! When you're young you may recuperate quicker but that doesn't mean you're not doing damage. You should receive regular Massage as maintenance for your bodies health, starting young. The frequency depends on your lifestyle, how active you are, how much stress you have in your life, and of course it needs to meet your budget.
Massage Therapist's are certainly considered "healers" but I try to use the word "help" instead of healing because I want people to appreciate the help we are able to give and not expect to be healed. We are all going to experience pain in our lives, it's how you choose to manage it that will make the difference in your pain and happiness levels.This being said, I have had significant results with my clients over the years. I have worked with a wide variety of clientele ranging from young athletes, back surgery recovery patients, car accident victims, senior citizens, pregnant women, world travelers, and the many stressed out hard workers out there. I have been able to help take a client's pain level down from a 10 to a 1 with regular Massage treatments. But I can not take all the credit for this feat. The client's who take the suggestions and "home work" I give them seriously have the best results.
Pain is also said to be a state of mind. I also believe this to be true. So, when a client is lying on the table, having his or her knots worked out in a serene and relaxing environment, I hope for them to be enjoying every moment of this time of pleasure and pain relief. I hope for my clients to feel pain release during this hour or hour and a half, and to allow tension and stress to melt away. This is my goal, and I hope to educate my clients on looking at Massage in this way. I want them to enjoy every minute of their massage time, worry free. If pain is a state of mind, taking away the worries of eliminating your pain forever, and appreciating the moments in life when you are experiencing decreased pain and increased pleasure could produce amazing results for your body and mind.
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