The Risks and Benefits of Massage Therapy

Massage therapy can be traced a thousand of years back to the Ancient times when it was used as the primary and essential medical care. Through the years, many methods and practices had been developed and improvements were also made through the course of time. All of these were based on one goal which is to enhance the rejuvenating capabilities of the human body, relax muscle tension all over the body, and to relieve stress which causes many ailments. Massage therapy can be used on many health issues and is considered as both conventional and alternative treatment.

There are 80 types of massage therapy method that a patient can choose from. All of these methods share the same objective in giving the body a good, improved, and maintained healthy condition. The practitioners as well as massage therapists can pick any of their preferred massage therapy methods to practice which includes different massage strokes varying with the different techniques each style has.

All of the different types of therapeutic massage points out to key areas or meridian points of the body. This is where they base their concern as it is believed that the body consists of energy flowing all over. Especially in Asian style massage therapy, the body is believed to have energy lines or path ways that needs to be unblocked. Clogged energy lines result in the weakening of the body's immune system which then becomes prone and drops the line of defense against sicknesses. Energy is known in different name in the various Asian countries that uses this knowledge in massage therapy. For example, it is called qi (chi) in China and sen in Thailand.

Massage therapy has proved to be beneficial to the improvement and healing of both the physical and mental condition of a patient. Various techniques in therapeutic massage although has different approaches yet they all accomplish the same purpose and give the same effect. Basically, this kind of treatment was developed to give the patient a relaxing and stress free feeling after a massage session; however it was improvised to also relieve body pain, remove physical and emotional stress, as well as treat chronic muscle pain. It is also great in increasing the oxygen and blood circulation of the body which results to a healthier body condition among most patients.

Although massage therapy only has few risks unlike other types of modern treatment, the public should still be careful when having a massage session and should only use licensed and knowledgeable massage therapists to further reduce the risks. Injuries are the main risks in a therapeutic massage. This is commonly due to the fact that the massage therapist is not a licensed and certified massage therapist. The anatomy of the human body as well as how it works and should be manipulated is all taught to massage therapists during their training. Most states usually requires 1,000 hours of massage therapy training as well as passing the state exam before a therapist can actually get his or her license.